Those of us who were baptised at
birth, and those of us who were baptised even as adults, can we truly say that our
faith has grown and deepened, our knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures and
of the doctrines of the Church have been deepened? If we have not, have we become
counter witnesses of our Lord? Many of us live a very complacent Catholic life.
We do not take pains to purify ourselves, to perfect ourselves in love and grow in
faith. We are quite happy with our venial sins. When we do not make efforts
to get rid of our venial sins, very soon, they will become big sins.
Complacency is always the beginning of this temptation to commit even bigger
sins. Because when all the small sins are added together, eventually our
conscience will be numbed, and we will not be able to feel the gravity of our sins.
Those of us who commit a deadly sin, we cannot even pray for them. Why is that so?
Because even if we pray for them, if their hearts are closed to God, they will
not be able to receive God's forgiveness. Not because God does not
want to forgive, but because the person refuses forgiveness. Only when a person
is receptive to the Holy Spirit, to the Son of Man, to Jesus, can his sins be
forgiven. And so, what must we do? Clearly, my dear brothers and sisters,
we must seek to grow in holiness. The best way to grow in our faith and to
strengthen the virtues in our lives, is to pray, meditate on the Gospel daily,
to receive the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Reconciliation regularly, so
that our hearts will be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and we can
respond effectively. Unless we cling to Jesus, unless we focus our eyes on
Jesus, we will not be able to grow in grace and in holiness. We have the
shining example of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was truly a great
prophet and a witness to our Lord, not just by his preaching and by his exaltation
for the people to repent, but mostly because of his own lifestyle. John the
Baptist's words were harsh, demanding, and yet he drew many people to him. And this
is because John the Baptist, he lived a life true to what he preached. He lived
an austere life, a life of sacrifice, a life of penance. And people could see
that he was truly a man of God. He spoke the words of God and he lived the words
of God. He was a man confident and much aware of himself. When John's disciples
were trying to stoke John the Baptist's jealousy by telling him, "Rabbi, the man
who was with you on the far side of the Jordan, He is baptising now, and everyone is
going to him." Was John the Baptist jealous, envious? He was totally beyond
reproach. In fact, he himself said, "A man can lay claim only to what is given
him from heaven." And he made it clear, "I told you before." Even when the priests
sent people to ask John the Baptist, "Who are you?", he said, "I am not the Christ.
I am not the Prophet. I am just only a forerunner. I am just only a voice in the
wilderness." And John the Baptist, he was contented
with that. He was not seeking for ambition, for glory, for position. He was
very happy to be the forerunner because he was true to God. He knows what God
wanted him to do. He knew what was the mission, and he was happy to fulfil that
mission. He was contented to be wherever the Lord appointed him. Because his
greatest joy, he said, is to bring people to Jesus, the bridegroom. So long
as we bring someone to Jesus, we should be very happy. Our great joy is not
about ourselves. Our great joy comes when people are brought to Jesus. That
is why for all of us, St John the Baptist reminds us, we must become
smaller, so that Jesus becomes greater. Anyone who puts himself in the forefront
is not a good leader, not a real Christian leader. Jesus must always be at
the forefront, because we are all His servants.
