Prepare the way

Painting after painting shows John the Baptist pointing to Jesus. John knows it’s not about him: “He who is coming after me is mightier than I” (Matthew 3:11) and “I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of Him…. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 2:28-30). Christian tradition also calls him John the Precursor and John the Forerunner, prepping us for the Messiah by being something of a prototype. Like Jesus, he’s conceived miraculously. Both preach repentance, have disciples, and suffer in death. But as Saint Peter Julian Eymard knew, “The true secret of love consists in this—we must forget self like Saint John the Baptist and exalt and glorify the Lord.”