16 Dec 3rd Sunday of Advent
Posted at 14:40h
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‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ (Sunday Gospel)
John the Baptist was clear about his own identity, grounded in his own truth, and was therefore not threatened by the knowledge that another was greater than he was. He was ready to stand aside that Jesus might come forward. He is a perfect model of that humility so beloved of St Teresa:
Humility drew the King from heaven to the womb of the Virgin, and with it, by one hair, we will draw him to our souls. And realise that the one who has more humility will be the one who possesses him more, and the one who has less will possess him less. For I cannot understand how there can be humility without love or love without humility.
(Way of Perfection. 16:2)