Second Sunday of Advent Cycle C
The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Luke 3:2-6
When John was preaching the Lord’s coming he was asked: Who are you? And he replied, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
Saint Augustine of Hippo said that John the Baptist was the Voice while Jesus, the Lord, was the Word – the message spoken. He skillfully helps us to reflect on this: What do others hear in my voice? It could be that, when I speak, they hear the Lord. Yes, it will be the Lord that they hear — if and only if it is the Lord who is in my heart.
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from St. Augustine’s Sermo 293
John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning.
John is the voice that lasts for a time;
from the beginning Christ is the Word who lives for ever.
Take away the word,
the meaning,
and what is the voice?
[Let us listen to the words we speak. How much of what is in my heart do my words convey? How much are they an echo of what I see and hear around me? What do my words reveal about the “me” I am and the “Me” God is giving me the grace and potential to become?]
Where there is no understanding,
there is only a meaningless sound.
The voice without the word
strikes the ear
but does not build up the heart.
. . .
When I think about
what I am going to say,
the word or message is already in my heart.
When I want to speak to you,
I look for a way
to share with your heart
what is already in mine.
I search
for a way
to let this message reach you,
so that the word
already in my heart
may find place also in yours.
I use my voice
to speak to you.
The sound of my voice
brings the meaning of the word
to you
and then passes away.
The word
which the sound has brought to you
is now in your heart,
and yet it is still also in mine.
When the word has been conveyed to you,
does not the sound seem to say:
The word ought to grow, and I should diminish?
The sound of the voice
has made itself heard
in the service of the word,
and has gone away,
as though it were saying:
My joy is complete.
Let us hold on to the word;
we must not lose the word
conceived inwardly
in our hearts.
From Sermo 293. It is in the Roman Office of Readings for June 24, the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. In his sermon, St. Augustine brings out the similarities and contrasts between the birth of Jesus Christ and His kinsman, St. John, who serves as a boundary between the Old and New Covenants.
