Saint Gertrude Parish - Lasne

Meditation by Pope Francis

Today, the Second Sunday of Advent, the Gospel reading presents us with the figure of John the Baptist. The text says that “his clothes were made of camel’s hair,” that “his food was locusts and wild honey” (Mt 3:4), and that he invited everyone to conversion: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (v. 2). He preached the nearness of the Kingdom. In short, an austere and radical man, who, at first glance, may seem a little harsh and inspire a certain fear. But then we ask ourselves: why does the Church propose him each year as its principal companion during this Advent season? What lies behind his severity, behind his apparent harshness? What is John’s secret? What is the message that the Church gives us today through John?

In reality, John the Baptist, more than a tough man, was allergic to duplicity. For example, when the Pharisees and Sadducees, known for their hypocrisy, approached him, his "allergic reaction" was very strong! Some of them, in fact, probably went to see him out of curiosity or opportunism, because John had become very popular. These Pharisees and Sadducees had a clear conscience and, faced with John the Baptist's impassioned appeal, they justified themselves by saying, "We have Abraham as our father" (v. 9). Thus, caught between duplicity and self-sufficiency, they failed to grasp the opportunity for grace, the chance to begin a new life; they were closed off in the presumption of their own righteousness. That is why John told them, "Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance" (v. 8). It is a cry of love, like that of a father who sees his son going astray and says to him, “Don’t waste your life!” Indeed, dear brothers and sisters, hypocrisy is the greatest danger, for it can ruin even the most sacred realities. Hypocrisy is a grave danger! This is why John the Baptist—like Jesus after him—is harsh with hypocrites. We can read, for example, Matthew chapter 23, where Jesus speaks so forcefully to the hypocrites in the temple! And why do John the Baptist, and then Jesus as well, do this? To shake them out of their complacency. On the contrary, those who felt they were sinners “were baptized by him, confessing their sins” (v. 5). It is thus: to receive God, it is not bravery that counts, but humility. It is the way to welcome God, not bravery: “We are strong, we are a great people…” No, humility: "I am a sinner": but not in an abstract way, not "for this or that", each of us must confess first and foremost to himself his own sins, his faults, his hypocrisies; we must come down from the pedestal and plunge into the water of repentance.

Dear brothers and sisters, John, with his "allergic reactions," gives us food for thought. Aren't we sometimes a little like those Pharisees? Perhaps we look down on others, thinking we are better than them, that we are masters of our own lives, that we don't need God, the Church, or our brothers and sisters every day. We forget that it is only permissible in one instance to look down on another person: when we need to help them get back on their feet; that is the only instance, the others are not. Advent is a time of grace to remove our masks—each of us has them—and follow the humble; to free ourselves from the pretense of believing ourselves self-sufficient, to go and confess our sins, even the hidden ones, and receive God's forgiveness, to apologize to those we have offended. Thus begins a new life. And the path is unique, that of humility: to purify oneself of the feeling of superiority, of formalism and of hypocrisy, to see in others brothers and sisters, sinners like us, and in Jesus to see the Savior who comes for us — not for others, for us —, as we are, with our poverty, our misery and our faults, especially with our need to be lifted up, forgiven and saved.