Second Sunday of Advent

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
7th December 2014

'The Voice of One Crying Out in the Wilderness' by St. Vincent Ferrer

Why does Holy Mother the Church in this holy time of Advent, in which the whole interest ought to be about Christ, make such a great mention of St. John the Baptist in today's gospel?

For this response I find in St. John four excellences greater than other saints. First is his gracious birth, because he already was holy before his birth. Second is his painful passion, because he was decapitated because of the dance of a young girl. Third is his virtuous life because when he was five years old, he immediately left the world and entered the wilderness. Fourth is the fruitful doctrine of announcing and preaching the coming of the Messiah. From these four excellences God has exalted John above all saints saying, "There has not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist" (Mt 11:11). For this reason Holy Mother the Church celebrates feasts of St. John four times. First of his birth. Second of his suffering. Third of his virtuous life. And fourth of his fruitful preaching, and about this we read in today's gospel. For no other saint is there a feast four times a year, only St. John the Baptist. Of the apostle Peter we have three feasts. Of St. Paul, two, but of St. John, four. And of this feast today he himself says, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness" (Jn 1:23), namely from the efficacy of preaching and his teaching. The first question is clear.

Why does St. John, wishing to promote his teaching, call himself "a voice", Wouldn't it have been better [to say], "I have a voice"? St. John calls himself a voice for two reasons.

First in excellently demonstrating his office: The proper office of the voice is to manifest and show the purpose of the heart, or the concept of the mind. As for the second reason: The skill of a preacher is that he preaches with all his members and powers. Not only the mouth of the preacher should preach, but also his life, his morals and reputation. Also the intellect by studying, the memory by contemplating, the heart, hand, gestures, all used continually and skillfully. So a good preacher ought to be a voice in every way. About this voice I find a wonderful prophecy of David, who allegorically prophesying about St. John says: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of majesty has thundered, The Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is in power; the voice of the Lord in magnificence" (Ps 28:3-9).

Here John is called a voice seven times because of seven teachings, which he was preaching. The first was the teaching of baptism. Second was the teaching of penance. The third was authoritative teaching. The fourth was rebuking teaching. The fifth was corrective teaching. The sixth was blaming teaching. The seventh was instructive teaching.