Rev. José Juan Sánchez Jácome / ACN.- Precious references to John the Baptist have appeared during this Advent season, enveloping the path we are traveling to worthily celebrate the birth of the world’s Savior in mystery, light, and hope.
There is a multitude of Johns in the history of salvation and in the life of the Church, so it would be a titanic task to point out each one of them. At least I would like to refer directly to John the Baptist and St. John of the Cross, whose examples confirm the gifts that God’s presence leaves in the life of a soul, gifts that, of course, only the Holy Spirit can awaken at the same time in a person’s life.
The presence of God in a soul provokes character, like the one the Bible recognizes in John the Baptist. He had strength and passion to speak of God and for his proclamation not to sweeten ears, but to move the hearts of his listeners. The word of God always brings consolation and peace to people, but it is more difficult—in God’s name—to get people to accept the urgency and need for sincere change.
God gives that capacity to those who care for their relationship with Him, like John the Baptist who had fire in his words. That is why Jesus came to say about the Baptist: “All the prophets and the law prophesied until John; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who was to come.”
John had fire in his words, for he had the ability to touch hearts and achieve the repentance of his followers. This great prophet stands out for his strength to face adversities and his character to point out the sins of others and insist that, if God is coming and wants to dwell among us, we cannot continue living with our sin.
The Gospel highlights that people were deeply questioned by his message and asked John, simple folk and even soldiers: “What must we do?” The precursor had an answer for each case and pointed out concrete actions so that they would commit to a life of conversion, leaving behind lies, abuses of power, corruption, injustices, and all situations of sin.
Therefore, the fire in his words had the power to convince people, for when God comes to man, He cannot be received while carrying a life of sin; we must open horizons, we must change, we must achieve true conversion.
This aspect of conversion or metanoia is explained by Bishop Robert Barron in this way: “What Jesus asks in metanoia is the transformation of the small, terrified, and selfish soul into the great, confident, and lofty soul. The vision of the kingdom, in summary, is not for the faint-hearted but for the magnanimous.”
There is a second aspect that confirms God’s presence in the life of a soul. The presence of God leaves sweetness, peace, meekness, and poetry in a person’s life. This is precisely what stands out in the life of St. John of the Cross, who became a good and noble soul, turning into a poet of God.
Through his writings, full of images, he manages to express in a beautiful and eloquent way, from the capacity of our language, what a person sees, as well as what they experience when God draws near to their life, when God makes His dwelling in their heart. More than reaching God, he is reached by Him, and what he cannot know by himself is revealed to him in those moments of intimacy.
The Holy Spirit grants these gifts, two aspects that are difficult to find at the same time in a person’s life: strength and gentleness, firmness and delicacy, character and elegance, to speak of God. They are granted the gift of the Holy Spirit, like the Baptist, and inspiration, like St. John of the Cross.
These aspects do not hide the tragic part that each of them had to live. John the Baptist, in fact, was imprisoned and beheaded. For his part, St. John of the Cross was imprisoned and persecuted by his own community brothers.
Only the Holy Spirit makes it possible that, despite the harshest adversities, they remain faithful to their mission, keep the fire in their words and the passion for Christ Jesus, like St. John of the Cross who was able to express himself with sweetness and poetry about the mystery of God, from his own experience of suffering.
One of his teachings comes from his own experience. That is why he recommended: “Whenever something unpleasant or disagreeable happens to you, remember Christ crucified and keep silent.” Instead of retaliating and ranting, instead of hurting as you are hurt, instead of attacking as you are attacked, look at Christ, contemplate your Lord who died for you; that act of contemplating the crucified one is a revelation.
When one is full of hatred, revenge, violence, and malice, one needs to look at the crucified one so that He may reveal Himself and flood us with the love that is the only thing that can help us overcome the violence, hatred, and pain caused by the malice and sin of men.
That is why, in the last part of his teaching, he highlighted the reality of silence by pointing out: “Silence is God’s first language.” If you want to advance in the knowledge of God, keep silent, because if we continue living in a loquacious and noisy way, we will not be able to hear God who whispers His presence in silence.
When admiring his poetry, let us remember that his starting point was the assimilation of suffering and silence, for only if we empty our heart can God fill it with His presence.
He also came to affirm that: “God dwells in secret in all souls, but in some He dwells as in His own house, and in others as a stranger in a foreign house, where they do not let Him command or do anything.” Those souls, the first ones, are the ones who keep silent, listen to Him, and live what He asks of them. The others, on the other hand, do not let Him do anything, do not allow Him to move. In those cases, He cannot pour out all His love, because they are full of worldly things.
May in these last days of Advent the word of the Baptist touch our hearts and the mystical message of St. John of the Cross make us love the Lord more, so that our joy may increase before His arrival. Let us allow the tenderness of the Child Jesus to conquer us for love and reconciliation, and lead us to recognize the immense need we have for the Savior of the world.
And may we, in addition to admiring the glory of God in the Child Jesus, recognize with awe how much need we have of God:
“Someone to save me
I need someone to save me
from hatred and permanent distrust,
from emptiness and meaninglessness,
from fear and insecurity,
from a suffocating life without horizons
But I cannot do it alone and I return to the clay
I need to be saved
That is why I await Christmas” (Víctor Manuel Fernández).
A priest was reflecting on the reasons why so many people seek God: “Many adults are coming to the Church to request Baptism. As far as I am concerned, I have never had so many adult catechumens. And none of those I know come moved by guilt or repentance, but by two motives: disgust and thirst. Some arrive because they feel weary of everything the world offers them and find in faith that purity they long for. Others, because they have encountered God and are dying of thirst. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep: if one of them gets lost, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the lost one? We usually give a moral tint to the parable of the lost sheep. And we speak of a ‘wayward sheep’ when someone strays from the path to seek the false reward of sin. But I believe that when the Good Shepherd decided to come into the world for the lost sheep, He did not look at her as a ‘bad’ sheep in need of conversion—though that too—but as a sheep that suffers and dies far from the Shepherd. That is what moved His heart. The Lord does not come only to make us ‘good’—though that too—but to take us Home” (José F. Rey Ballesteros).