19 April 2013 The humility of John the Baptist The whole of John’s life is determined by his mission: as the ‘voice’ that announces Jesus. His vocation will be to prepare, for Jesus, a people capable of receiving the Kingdom of God. Concurrently, he is to give public testimony of Him. John will not seek personal fulfilment through his work, but to prepare a perfect people for the Lord. John will fulfil his mission not because it appeals to him, but because he was conceived for this very purpose. This is what all apostolate is about: forgetting oneself and developing a true concern for others. He was to carry out his task to the full, even to the extent of giving up his life in the fulfilment of his vocation. Many came to know Jesus through John the Baptist’s apostolic work. Through his express indication, the first disciples followed Jesus. And many others were inwardly prepared by his preaching. One’s vocation embraces a person’s whole life; and our whole being works towards fulfilment of the divine mission. In our place and concerns, each of us has a God-given vocation. The Divine Will desires many other things which depend on fulfilment of that vocation. “Many great things depend, don’t forget it, on whether you and I live our lives as God wants.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 755) Do we bring people around us closer to God? Do we give good example in our work, at home? Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 1:58-9 The use of holy water to conquer the devil “You ask me why I always recommend, with such insistence, the daily use of holy water. I could give you many reasons. But there could be none better than that of the Saint of Avila: ‘From nothing do evil spirits flee more precipitately, never to return, than from holy water.’” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 572) John Paul II exhorts us, when we pray, to think more about the last petition of the “Our Father: Lead us not into temptation. Deliver us from Evil — from the Evil One. Do not let us give in, Lord, to the infidelity towards which the one who has been unfaithful right from the beginning entices us.” (“General Audience”, 13 August 1986) The best way to show that we want to replace the devil’s ‘non serviam’ with our personal ‘Serviam: I will serve you, Lord’, is by a special effort to improve in our faithfulness to what we know God wants of us. Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:36 Imitating Our Lord: Love with deeds God’s love is not simply an emotion or feeling, but something that leads Our Lord to perform deeds that show it. So our love for our neighbor must be a love that appears in deeds. Seeking material goods as the only goal is proper only to Christians who have allowed their faith to influence their daily lives in the least. “Let us not love in word or speech”, says Saint John, “but in deed and in truth.” (1 Jn 3:18) “Just as love leads us to want the best for those we love and to do good to them, so the order of charity should lead us to want, above all, that people should be united to God, and to endeavour to bring this about. We have to realize that the most sublime good, the definitive good, consists in union with God. Apart from God no other partial good has any meaning.” (F Ocariz, “Love for God, love for men”) Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 3:531-2 Our Lady “The holy Virgin Mary, Mother of fair love, will bring relief to your heart, when it feels as if it’s made of flesh, if you have recourse to her with confidence.” (Cf St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 504) The Apostolate — “Unity. Unity and submission. What do I want with the loose parts of a clock — even though they are finely wrought — if they can’t tell me the time?” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way”, 962) • Confirmation of the Feast of the Conception of Our Lady, by the Council of Trent, in the year 1545. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Confirmation of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Council of Trent 1545). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html) • Council of Trent confirms the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. 1545. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady of Lyons, France (1643). (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) • “Notre Dame de Lyons”. France. 1643. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)