John the Baptist and Elijah
Good and Evil
John was beheaded at the request of Herodias, the wife of King Herod because was not silent in the face 1of evil; John told King Herod is was wrong for him to have divorced his wife and then taken the wife of his brother Philip. John made it clear that adultery if gravely wrong. For bearing witness to the truth of Christ, John was imprisoned and beheaded. The disciples of John carried his body to Sebaste where he was buried. Here we honor the Martyrdom of John and ask his intercession that we may be like him – that we may give heroic witness to the truth – cost what it may.
The first moral principle is to do good and avoid evil. The problem today is that people do not know what is good and what is evil. Something is good for me if it helps me achieve my purpose. God created us to share in His divine life and become saints and great saints at that. We achieve our purpose and reach our full potential by doing the will of God, by doing what is Good. We can know with absolute certainty what is good and what is evil through Reason and by what God has Revealed, that is through Scripture, Tradition and the Teaching of the Church, what is summed up in Part III of the Catechism.
Do Not Be Silent
Like John the Baptist we have a responsibility bear witness to what is good and what is evil. Do not hate people or condemn them to hell. But judge what is good and evil and do not remain silent in the face of evil. Marriage, sex and babies in that order is good because it helps us and society achieve its purpose. Divorce, contraception, abortion, homosexual activity, pornography, sex-changes are bad because they are self-destructive of the human person and society. If we love people, then we don’t want them to destroy themselves. Economically socialism is bad – the CCC condemns it. Capitalism is good but it needs to be governed to prevent greed from taking over. Religious freedom is very good – that is why it is the first amendment. The right to bear arms – the second amendment is good – it protects religious freedom. Know what is good, do what is good; hate and avoid evil and do not be silent about both.
Repentance and Belief
Matthew 3 John the Baptist appeared; he preached in the wilderness of Judaea and this was his message: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand'… But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit…Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees, so that any tree which fails to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire.
John’s message was simple: Repent and believe; Bear the fruit that befits repentance. The fruit is two-fold: it is first a life of virtue and holiness; second, it is that we become disciple makers. Vice and sin are self-destructive – they prevent us from reaching our potential and they ruin happiness. We are called to convert from sin to virtue and to go on from virtue to holiness. Too many people convert from grave sin to venial sin stop there. We settle for too little. So let me ask you a question: will there be pride, envy, sloth, anger, greed, gluttony and lust in heaven? No? Then what are we going to do? If these vices can’t be in heaven but they are in us, then we can’t be in heaven. Oh yes, I know, you think you can half-ass it through this life and God will finish the process in purgatory. Eat your cake and have it too. Cling to your sin in this life and get heaven as well. Do you love God so little that you will choose pleasure and power over him in this life? That is what sin is. No! let us love God as He deserves, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and lets become what we were made to be – Saints!
Live Friendship and Invitation
The second way we are called to bear fruit is by being a Disciple Maker. The one and only mission Jesus gave the Church was to go and make disciples – be a disciple maker. We have the same mission – to bring Jesus to others. We are held responsible to do this in our families and with our friends. How do we bring Jesus to others? First – be genuinely interested in others and ask them questions about their lives to know understand love and care for them. If you don’t know them and understand them, how will they trust you and follow you. Share life with them by just doing what you both like to do and have good conversation while you do it. Then invite them to pray the Rosary with you. Sometimes they won’t but sometimes they will. Live friendship and then invite them to pray the Rosary and be detached from their answer or the outcome.
He Must Increase; I Must Decrease
John the Baptist said of Jesus:
He must increase; I must decrease!
Pride is a radical self-reliance. Pride is an I-centered life rather than a Christ-centered life. In my I-life on my I-phone, in my I-world, just one bite to understand, even Eve couldn’t live without the I-Plan. I need this, I need that, I’m not complete with what I have; If I do this, if I buy that, I’ll get mine…I want, I want, I want…And it all leaves us empty!
Humility is the remedy. Humility takes me out of the center and puts God at the center.
Father, what may I do to please you? Father, what is your will? And like Jesus we say,
Not my will be done, but Thy will be done.
So what should we do? Want the will of God. Seek the will of God, Do and accept the will of God and love the will of God. That is your way to union with God, that is your way to have everything because if you have God you have Everything! God alone satisfies!