Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 11, 2020
After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent some time there with them and baptized.
John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there; and people kept coming and were being baptized—John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.
Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.
They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”
John answered,
“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.
You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom.
The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.
For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”
“He must increase; I must decrease.”
John the Baptist’s consolation to his disciples, who insinuate Jesus is poaching their followers, tees up an easy shot at false idols: space for God must increase in our lives, even and especially at the expense of personal exploits.
But John’s wisdom also specifically addresses a vice that I grapple with every day, especially around the new year: jealousy.
John’s followers, threatened by this successful new rabbi, fear irrelevancy as Jesus’ ministry eclipses their own. As these disciples compare themselves to Jesus’, so I compare myself to others, fairly or unfairly, even when it induces self-loathing, even though it hurts my relationships with friends and family when I begrudge their success.
John the Baptist has this bonus lesson for us jealous types: comparisons like this are meaningless. My Notre Dame classmates are moving, traveling, getting married and promoted. We all chose different paths, so successes look and occur differently for each of us. In reality, none of us has checked off all of our lifetime personal and professional boxes. Rather than respond with jealousy or even merely accept these differences, John tells us to celebrate them, like a best man for the groom (a poignantly apt metaphor for us unmarried twenty-somethings).
Today’s Responsorial Psalm only confirms John’s advice:
“Sing to the Lord a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.”
Being happy, truly happy, for others demands selflessness, humility and loving kindness. Personally, I’m working on it. But, lest we worry the success of others will, as John’s followers feared, diminish our own worthiness, the response to today’s psalm is, “The Lord takes delight in his people.” The Lord knows our struggles and still takes delight in us. As we learn to decrease, he will increase—and will continue to rejoice with us.
Prayer
Loving God, send us your Spirit so we may recognize your works. Enable us to hear and see your Son and our Brother Jesus in our daily encounters in school, home, workplace and everywhere. Help us to be like John the Baptist as we proclaim, “He must increase; I must decrease.” Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Vitalis was a hermit monk in Gaza in the 600s. In his old age, he felt called to travel to Alexandria, Egypt, to serve the many prostitutes there. He would work as a laborer during the day, then hire a prostitute with the wages he earned and ask her to spend the night with him without sin. If she would listen, he would ask her to pray and he would teach her about the faith and her human dignity. He made the women promise not to tell anyone about the evening.
This approach led to much controversy and gossip, but every charge was investigated and he was cleared of any impropriety. It was said that many prostitutes were saved to become wives and mothers.
One night, a man misunderstood Vitalis’ intentions at a brothel, and struck him on the head. The monk managed to return to his hut and died alone there from the wound.
In today's world, a group of nuns who pose as prostitutes to rescue women and children from the human trafficking industry—they are known as Talitha Kum and are active in more than 140 countries.
The relics of a martyr named Vitalis rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, though there are several martyrs with that name in the canon of saints.
St. Vitalis, you died saving prostitutes from exploitation, pray for us!