The Greatness of John

The prayer for purity of mind, "Stir up our hearts, Lord, to make ready the paths of your only-begotten Son, so that by his coming we may be able to serve thee with minds now purified," has its meaning for the Church.

The answer to this petition comes to the Church in the Gospel in the figure of the Baptist, a renewed judgement in living form, speaking with the deeply moving force of example, perhaps more persuasively even than the prophesies and warnings to repent.  Before the entire selflessness of the precursor, Church and soul awaken to the glow of their first love, strip off vain pretensions, and lust.  In this way the precursor comes to play his role in the drama of redemption, his living, participating role.  "For the power of John the Baptist goes before us when we prepare to put our faith in Christ," and, we may add, when we prepare with a lively faith to celebrate his coming in the liturgy.  The more we submit ourselves to the judgement of John, the more the Church takes on the form of the precursor.  It too becomes the herald of Christ; because it comes to pass judgment on itself, Christ takes up presence in her, and she must make known what it is she sees.  Sin's shadows fall away, the joy of God's nearness rises:  "Deus manifeste veniet"...  God comes for men to see, the Church.  "I bear him in me; he is here, look at him!"

-Sister Aemiliana Lohr

Sister Aemiliana (1972) was a German Benedictine nun who wrote about the liturgy.