The Prefeast of Theophany.

Liturgically, today is structured a lot like the Eve of the Nativity as we both begin and end the 12 days of Christmas with this Liturgical Structure. Tonight will be Old Testament Readings, and tomorrow, of my favorite days of the year, when we do the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.

This morning’s reading was about St. John the Forerunner (the Baptist):

1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' "[a]
4John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11"I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Matthew 3: 1-11)

I’ve been thinking about St. John’s voice crying in the wilderness these past couple of days. Last night was my monthly Book Club group – the book we discussed was The Book Thief - while the discussion was fantastic and amazing, at one point it veered to an all too common topic, “why I am not the religion __________ that I was raised in.” Valid reasons are mentioned in these discussions – hypocrisy, abuse, fear, etc.

However, it is a topic that makes me very sad*, but what do I do? I sat there and nodded, not contributing anything. I let that interior voice of fear about being disliked or disagreed with override being the voice crying in the wilderness for my faith and for God.

May I remember St. John the Baptist tomorrow at Liturgy and throughout my life. May I learn to raise my trembling voice in the wilderness, and to heed the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount:

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12 )

A blessed Feast to you tomorrow! Christ is Baptized!

* I want to direct you to Deb’s fantastic book review which also touches on these issues, more eloquently than I do.

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