The sterling example of John the Baptist

IT’S definitely an example of supreme humility, of total identification with Christ, of a wholehearted dedication to his ministry. Though he clearly played a very important role in the whole economy of human salvation, he avoided grabbing credit for himself and instead consistently let Christ be known as he truly was. The only interest of John the Baptist is to let Christ shine, and be loved and served as he deserved.

This can be seen in that gospel episode where some Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him who he really was. (cfr. Lk 2,19-28) “Who are you?” they asked. And he immediately replied, “I am not the Christ.” Neither did he say he was Elijah nor one of the prophets. He simply said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord…’”

This example of John the Baptist is worth imitating by everyone, but especially by the clergy who, by being sacramentally conformed to Christ himself as head of the Church, should always make Christ, not them, come out in all their actuations—when they administer the sacraments, when they preach, and even in their ordinary daily activities. A priest is always a priest even when he is doing sports or having an excursion.

This will always require some effort since we cannot deny that there is that tendency of ours to make ourselves known, appreciated and praised, instead of Christ. Especially these days when this tendency is constantly reinforced in our new and powerful means of communication, we really would need some strong, conscious effort to make ourselves pass unnoticed so that only Christ should have the impact on people’s mind.

We can manage to do this if we earnestly make the effort to refer everything that we think, say and do to Christ. This will never be a way of annihilating our personality, but rather, on the contrary, of perfecting our humanity. We should not be casual nor cavalier in this duty. Christ himself said that the greatest commandment of God is to love him with all our heart and mind, all our strength.

As to whether it is possible, let alone, doable, to refer everything to Christ and to identify ourselves to him, the answer is clearly a resounding, Yes. This is what our Catechism teaches us clearly: “Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us. ‘By his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man.” (Catechism 521)

Let us remember what Christ said so clearly. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can only have life, let alone, consistency and fruitfulness in our life, if we are united to him. Outside of him, we can only expect death, inconsistency and sterility. When Christ is not earnestly followed, we are prone to play the game of hypocrisy.

Yes, only in and with Christ can we have the real principle of unity and fruitfulness in our life. We would be fooling ourselves if we fail to recognize this basic truth about ourselves.

We really have to learn how to refer everything to Christ. This should be like an instinct, an urge that needs to be corresponded. We should always remember that the constant and ultimate parameter of our life is Christ, since he is the one who sets the final conditions and purpose of our life. He is also the one that takes care of everything, including our mistakes and other negativities that we can encounter in life.