(Is.61:1-2,10-11; Lk.1:46-50,53-54; 1Thes.5:16-24; Jn.1:6-8,19-28) "A man named John was sent from God." Here is the one of whom the prophet speaks, and who can rightly proclaim the words inscribed by Isaiah: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me." Here is he who has come "to announce a year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God." The Spirit is upon him and he speaks of the coming Messiah. He has been sent by God to "testify to the light." But who heeds his proclamation? Who is able to hear this voice crying and find the joy of the path it would blaze in their hearts? How many are still as the priests and Levites and Pharisees of today's gospel, inquiring so blindly, "Who are you"? How many are as the commentators of the missal I read, who term the prophecy of Isaiah a "poem," and state that the Canticle of Mary is "a song that Luke put into the mouth of Mary"? How many have no sense of prophecy, or the Spirit, or God Himself? How many are deaf to John's cry? Our brother Paul instructs us: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances." And yet the greatest of all prophetic utterances are watered down in ankle-deep wisdom. "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord," Mary declares. The Spirit wells up in her spirit and she cannot but "rejoice in God [her] Savior." These are not words put into her mouth by any man; her prophecy does not come from the pen of a scribe but from the very Spirit of God! The Word of God cannot be chained; the voice "crying out in the desert" cannot be tamed by those "not worthy to untie" the mysteries hidden in sacred Scripture. Paul will be put under house arrest; the Baptist Herod will cast into his dungeon; the Christ shall be crucified – but the Word of God will go forth, and nothing shall silence its voice. The testimony to the light must be heard, "so that all might believe through Him"; there will ever be proclaimed "liberty to captives and release to the prisoners" by the power of Jesus Christ, until all hear of the mercy He has "on those who fear Him." A man named John was sent, not to testify to himself, but to prophesy the grace of God; and his voice will cry out the way to the ends of the earth and to the end of time. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Removing the Log from my Eye" (second part) from Listening to the Lamp, ninth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, your Son is coming and we should repent of all sin that we might be ready to rejoice and give Him praise. YHWH, the fire of the Spirit has come to us; John has proclaimed the light in our midst. Jesus, your Son, is now among us, and what should we do but rejoice? O LORD God, holy is your NAME, and holy is the One whom you send to us. So holy is He that we are not worthy to kneel at His feet. For He reflects your greatness, O LORD; His light is your own. How can we stand in your overwhelming glory, except that in Him we receive your promised mercy in our soul? What mercy you bring us this day, LORD God! What grace is ours in the word the Baptist speaks. For he proclaims the Christ come among us – he proclaims the salvation of your lowly ones. We are but your servants, LORD, unworthy to wait on your only Son. Yet you bless us with your loving mercy and invite us to perfection in Him. And so, what can we do but rejoice?