”He must increase; I must decrease”

Today the Universal Church honors the Passion of St John the Baptist…John was fearless…He spoke truth to power and it cost him his life….His “capital crime”, which cost him his life was he spoke out against the governor marrying his own brother’s wife…..”John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so”…..The sin of adultery, sex before marriage and remarriage after divorce was probably a common occurrence in the time of St John the Baptist as it is today…Yet John addressed it and called it out……What is “acceptable” to man is not acceptable to God…Interestingly enough, the governor (Herod) while he was not a follower of Jesus and John the Baptist liked to listen to him…..”Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him”…..This proves that even the hardest of hearts know when they hear the Truth…Because the Truth is written on all of our hearts…However......The fact that we hear it is not enough…We must act upon it…As did John the Baptist….This requires our YES and God’s grace

“No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends”

There is a real cost to living the Truth……Period - Point Blank!….We may not be called to give our life like St John the Baptist but anyone knows who is working and living in the world…..The "ways of God" are not expressed around “the conference tables” of the power-brokers who rule this world…Its for us to make a decision each and everyday….And many times to choose the ways of God over the ways of the world cost us…In real time…It may not cost you your head…But it can definitely impact your life and the life of your family…This is the cross that Jesus speaks of…There is no such thing as “cheap grace”…The cost is real…..And so is the cross!…And we can’t not have it both ways!

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me”

In my “walk” as a practicing Catholic…I have learned that Jesus works in the space of our sacrifice….What does that mean?…When we make a choice that costs us something…Its in that space that we encounter the Lord…..Its in that space that the Lord “works”…..In order to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must make room for it in our life…That means we must empty our self of our very self….In doing so we make room for God to fill us with his very self…..A glass of water filled to the top can not be filled with milk…Not even God can do that!……First the glass must be emptied of the water…Then the milk can be poured in….This process of emptying ourself is challenging….In many ways it goes against our very nature of self-preservation….But if we follow the example of Jesus and the saints and “pour our self out”….What we become in return sets the world on fire!…The life of God shines through us…This can be tangibly seen and such a witness impacts all those we encounter

“Shine through me, and be so in me …..That every soul I come in contact with…. May feel Your presence in my soul…..Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!….Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,……So to shine as to be a light to others; The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine; It will be you, shining on others through me”

Getting back to St John the Baptist and the Gospel from St Mark today at Mass…John spoke the Truth and when he spoke it even the powerful of the world recognized that John spoke with authority…Why?…Because John the Baptist emptied himself of his very self and was filled with the Holy Spirit….”He must increase; I must decrease”…This cost John is very life…However…Two thousand years later….The death of John the Baptist is being commemorate…Who talks about Herod, the man who killed John?…John’s words had power not because John was powerful but because he gave God permission to enter into his life…In order for him to do that…He had to “make room” in his life for God.. He “emptied himself out”…And because he did…His words had great power & authority…The power was not his…But that power was felt..And that power was real!

”He must increase; I must decrease”