But if Christ did rise from the dead, nothing can ever be the same again. If God literally became a man, and that man actually died on a cross for love of us, and that cross truly became the source of the world’s salvation - that changes everything.
By preparing our hearts to receive Jesus as John did, we ready ourselves to become generation-changing saints too: where the world clamors for retribution, we show forgiveness; where there’s an appetite for darkness, we bear the light; and where there’s hatred, we love like John.
We know that the years between now and then will fly by, never to return. This is their only shot to prepare for adulthood, and we take that reality very seriously. We consider every day a brick in the foundation upon which the rest of their lives will be built. Whether it’s ballet or chess, gardening or rock climbing, cooking class or cross country, poetry or physics - every hour offers some chance or other to help them become the wise, virtuous, and joyful people they’re called to be.
Dear Saints,
We’re one week into Advent and only 15 days until Christmas. It’s worth a gut-check: have I spent the season wisely so far? If so, keep going! If not, there’s still time - begin now.
Today we encounter the colorful character of John the Baptist. John was what you might call a boundary pusher, and for good reason: he came with a message that utterly obliterated the boundaries. Up till then, sin and death had pinned people into small and servile lives, but those limits were about to be demolished forever, and John’s job was to ready the people for the revolution.
John foretold the coming of the prince of peace; it’s perhaps particularly unjust, then, that he met with such a violent end. But we can honor his sacrifice by heeding his message. Let’s spend the next 15 days deliberately dismantling the boundaries of selfishness and fear we’ve set up around our own hearts. With gratitude for the messenger who first alerted us to his coming, let’s prepare the way of the Lord into our lives.
Christ’s Peace,
Father Daniel
δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ
The concept of kingship can be somewhat foreign to our modern mindset, but it signifies total sovereignty and a duty of complete allegiance. In that sense, Jesus’s lordship over our lives is a binary choice: he either rules our hearts entirely, or not at all; we either belong to him altogether, or not at all.