Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
John the Baptist is the figure of Advent, this season of the coming of the Lord, for he prepares the path of the Redeemer so that Isaiah’s prophecy may be fulfilled:
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” (Isaiah 40. 3-5)
John the Baptist is “more than a prophet.” (Lk 7:26) In him, the Holy Spirit concludes his speaking through the prophets. John completes the cycle of prophets begun by Elijah. (Cf. Mt 11. 13-14) He proclaims the imminence of the consolation of Israel; he is the “voice” of the Consoler who is coming. (Jn 1. 23; cf. Isa 40. 1-3) As the Spirit of truth will also do, John “came to bear witness to the light.” (Jn 1. 7; cf. Jn 15. 26; 5. 35) In John’s sight, the Spirit thus brings to completion the careful search of the prophets and fulfills the longing of the angels. (Cf. 1 Pet 1. 10-12) “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God…Behold, the Lamb of God.” (Jn 1. 33-36) (CCC 719)
“All flesh shall see the salvation of God” because God will come in the flesh. Why did the Word become flesh? With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.” (CCC 456)
The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciliating us with God, who “loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins”: “the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world,” and “he was revealed to take away sins”: (1 Jn 4. 10; 4. 14; 3. 5)
Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state? (St. Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. catech. 15: PG 45, 48B.) (CCC 457)
The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God’s love (CCC 458) to be our model of holiness (CCC 459) and to make us “partakers of the divine nature” (CCC 460)
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as, together, we “meet Christ in the liturgy,” Father Cusick (See also paragraphs 535, 719, 720, 1224 in the CCC.)