At Casa Santa Marta, Reflects on Depths of Last Prophet’s Self-Abasement
John the Baptist lived his attitude of “he must increase, I must decrease” until the end, even suffering in prison the “interior torture of doubt,” says Pope Francis.
The Pope offered this reflection on Jesus’ cousin today during Mass at Casa Santa Marta, reported Vatican Radio.
The Gospel reading of today relates John’s beheading.
The Holy Father reflected that it was Jesus who “canonized” John the Baptist, in referring to him as the “the greatest man born of woman.”
“The greatest saint: Thus Jesus canonized him. And he ended his life in jail, beheaded, and the final phrase [of the Gospel reading] seems almost one of resignation: ‘When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.’ This is the end of ‘the greatest man born of a woman.’ A great prophet. The ultimate, the last of the prophets. The only one to whom it was granted to see the hope of Israel.”
The Holy Father invited the congregation to enter into John’s cell, to look into the soul of the “voice crying out in the desert,” of the one who baptized the crowds in the name of Him who was to come.
“But he also suffered in prison – let us say the word – the interior torture of doubt: ‘But maybe I made a mistake? This Messiah is not how I imagined the Messiah would be.’ And he invited his disciples to ask Jesus: ‘But tell us, tell us the truth: are you He who is to come?’ because that doubt made him suffer. ‘Was I mistaken in proclaiming someone who isn’t [who I thought]?’ The suffering, the interior solitude of this man. ‘I, on the other hand, must diminish, but diminish thus: in soul, in body, in everything…”
“To diminish, diminish, diminish.” That “was the life of John,” Pope Francis repeated. “A great man who did not seek his own glory, but the glory of God”; a man who died in such a prosaic manner, in anonymity.
But with this attitude, the Pope concluded, John “prepared the way for Jesus,’ who, in a similar manner, “died in agony, alone, without the disciples’:
“It does us good to read this passage from the Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6. Reading this passage, seeing how God triumphs: the style of God is not the style of man. Asking the Lord for the grace of humility that John had, and not leaning on our own merits or the glory of others. And above all, the grace that our life might always be a place that Christ might grow greater, and we might come down, even to the very end.”
The Pope offered this reflection on Jesus’ cousin today during Mass at Casa Santa Marta, reported Vatican Radio.
The Gospel reading of today relates John’s beheading.
The Holy Father reflected that it was Jesus who “canonized” John the Baptist, in referring to him as the “the greatest man born of woman.”
“The greatest saint: Thus Jesus canonized him. And he ended his life in jail, beheaded, and the final phrase [of the Gospel reading] seems almost one of resignation: ‘When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.’ This is the end of ‘the greatest man born of a woman.’ A great prophet. The ultimate, the last of the prophets. The only one to whom it was granted to see the hope of Israel.”
The Holy Father invited the congregation to enter into John’s cell, to look into the soul of the “voice crying out in the desert,” of the one who baptized the crowds in the name of Him who was to come.
“But he also suffered in prison – let us say the word – the interior torture of doubt: ‘But maybe I made a mistake? This Messiah is not how I imagined the Messiah would be.’ And he invited his disciples to ask Jesus: ‘But tell us, tell us the truth: are you He who is to come?’ because that doubt made him suffer. ‘Was I mistaken in proclaiming someone who isn’t [who I thought]?’ The suffering, the interior solitude of this man. ‘I, on the other hand, must diminish, but diminish thus: in soul, in body, in everything…”
“To diminish, diminish, diminish.” That “was the life of John,” Pope Francis repeated. “A great man who did not seek his own glory, but the glory of God”; a man who died in such a prosaic manner, in anonymity.
But with this attitude, the Pope concluded, John “prepared the way for Jesus,’ who, in a similar manner, “died in agony, alone, without the disciples’:
“It does us good to read this passage from the Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6. Reading this passage, seeing how God triumphs: the style of God is not the style of man. Asking the Lord for the grace of humility that John had, and not leaning on our own merits or the glory of others. And above all, the grace that our life might always be a place that Christ might grow greater, and we might come down, even to the very end.”
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