2nd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

LESS IS THE NEW GREAT

Br. Cyr Stephen Magbanua, OP 

The Gospel presents to us the great John the Baptist. He is considered great because of his important role in God’s work of salvation. His greatness depends neither on his self-righteousness nor on grandiose lifestyle but on lesser things. He does not claim to be the Messiah when everybody does. He wears neither costly clothing nor feeds on sumptuous foods. His preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ is through a humble and simple way of life. 

In this season of preparation for the coming and birth of our Lord, we can have as our model the great John the Baptist. We can prepare ourselves and be great Catholics by having less. We can lessen our complaining and focus more on giving thanks. We can lessen our harsh criticisms and give more affirmations; less bickering, more forgiving; less pettiness, more maturity; less gossiping, more praying; less discouragement, more hopefulness; less anger, more patience; less hatred and more loving. It is by being less that we can be great!

COURAGE

There is an adage that goes like this “Gold is tested in Fire”. In the Gospel, Herod’s goldness of manhood was again tested when he uttered a sworn public promised to Herodias.  Due to his false pride, he still let his executioner killed John the Baptist in order to maintain his name among the high-ranking officials of the kingdom. Sometimes in our life, these “moments of fire”, like the one that Herod encountered is inevitable. We came to a point that we swore a promised to someone in public because we tried to please someone or some people who have done a favorable activity to us. At times, people became like Herod who was controlled by his impulse.  “Being a man”, in the real sense doesn’t mean that showing to people how influential we are or how powerful we can become. For me, the real measure of manliness is when one to know how to set a judgment on dilemmas that require justice and righteousness. Herod’s lack of prudence serves as his own trap to further prove to other people that indeed, his kingly power is only controlled by the on-going concubine that he is doing.

This implies that people at times let themselves be “man” enough to prove their real worth. Reading this story again would remind me of my former colleague who was victimized by his immediate superior when the latter evaluated the former.  Since the immediate superior cannot help but to please his higher boss and fellow comrades, he ends up executing a decision at the expense of others professional career.  I thought that this friend of mine would hold a grudge on his  former immediate superior but it ends up that he acted not  like Herodias, instead he forgive that boss and still manage to invite him to his wedding.Herodias’ actions represents people who will use their connections just to have a revenge on their enemies. Since John The Baptist’s preaching is already hitting the scandalous affairs of Herod and Herodias, the latter would resolve to desperate means in order to continue their affairs. In the gospel, John The Baptist exemplified the true measurement of valor and courage. Why? Because he still continued to preach to Herod and Herodias that they need to stop their scandalous affairs despite the fact that he is aware of the danger to his life.  St Dominic once said  “ A man who is in control of his emotion  is a master of his world”….