Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
The people were wondering about John’s identity, “Could he be the Messiah?” Then John answered them, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is coming will do much more: he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. As for me, I am not worthy to untie his sandal.Now, with all the people who came to be baptized, Jesus, too, was baptized. Then, while he was praying, the heavens opened: the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the bodily form of a dove, and a voice from heaven was heard, “You are my Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Lectio Divina
READ: The prophet Isaiah proclaims the end of bondage and prepares the way of the Lord. St. Paul shows how Jesus has come to redeem us from the bondage of death, sin, and every evil. John the Baptist, who embodies Isaiah’s role of messenger, identifies Jesus as the one whose way he has prepared.
REFLECT: The role of the messenger is not to proclaim himself; he is not his own message. Instead, his mission is to proclaim Another. The church, like Isaiah and John the Baptist, is called to be a messenger: making straight the way of the Lord and announcing his arrival. The church is not itself the Good News. When the church becomes confused about its role and preaches itself, rather than Christ, it falls into what Pope Francis calls “spiri­tual narcissism.”
PRAY: Today, Lord, may I have the courage and faith to prepare a way for you in my life.
ACT: Consider my actions and encounters this day: In what ways did I prepare a way for Christ? In what ways did I set up obstacles?

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