In today's Angelus message, the Pope brings together the Old and the New Testaments, the prophetic word and the priestly line, the historical and the spiritual. I love St. John the Baptist as he is the greatest of men, as Christ said, and points us always to Christ.
Here is part of today's message, again, found on the easier to us Vatican website. And, Caravaggio painted a young John. Very interesting. And, St. Augustine is quoted here again, but this time by the Pope, who is an Augustinian scholar.
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In the season of Advent, the liturgy emphasizes, in particular, two figures who prepare the coming of the Messiah, the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. Today St. Luke presents it, and does so with different characteristics from the other Evangelists. "All four Gospels put at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the figure of John the Baptist and present it as its precursor. St. Luke has moved back the connection between the two figures and their respective missions ... Already in the conception and birth, Jesus and John are brought into relation with each other "( The childhood of Jesus , 23). This setting helps to understand that John, as the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, both of priestly families, not only is the last of the prophets, but also represents the whole priesthood of the Old Covenant and therefore prepares men to the worship of the spiritual New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus (cf. ibid. 27-28). Luke also dispels any mythic reading that is often made of the Gospels and places historically the life of John the Baptist, writing: "In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor ... during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas" ( Lk 3:1-2).Within this historical framework lies the true great event, the birth of Christ, that his contemporaries will not even notice. By God the great men of history form the backdrop to small!
John the Baptist is defined as the "voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths" ( Lk 3:4). The voice proclaims the word, but in this case the Word of God above, as it is itself down to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness (cf. Lk 3:2). He then plays a great role, but always in relation to Christ. St. Augustine says: "John is heading. Instead of the Lord says: "In the beginning was the Word" ( Jn 1:1). John is the voice that goes, Christ is the eternal Word who was in the beginning. If the item you take away the word, what is left? A faint sound. The voice without the word strikes but the hearing, but does not build up the heart "(Sermon 293, 3: PL 38, 1328). Our aim is to give today listening to that voice to give space and welcome to the heart of Jesus, the Word that saves us. In this time of Advent, prepare to see, with the eyes of faith, the humble stable in Bethlehem, God's salvation (cf. Lk 3:6). In the consumer society, in which they seek joy in things, the Baptist teaches us to live in an essential way, so Christmas is experienced not only as a party outside, but as the feast of the Son of God who came to bring peace to the people, life and true joy.