From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Humility of John the Baptist   
      
   "John the Baptist was regarded by some people as the Messiah but he told them:   
   "I am not the one whom you think." He refused to accept the error of someone   
   in order to derive glory from it.   
      
   John admitted what he was, declared what he was not, and humbled himself. He   
   clearly recognized where his salvation came from, for he understood that he   
   was the lamp, and he feared being extinguished by pride."   
   --St. Augustine--Sermon 293, 4   
      
   Prayer: Thanks and praise to you, my God, who sound in my ears and who   
   illuminate my heart. Keep me away from every temptation.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 10, 31   
      
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   June 24th - St. John the Baptist   
      
   It would be interesting to analyze the aspects of St. John the   
   Baptist’s life that characterize him as a perfect Apostle of the Last   
   Times, as described by St. Louis Grignion de Monfort. Not because his   
   times were the last times, but because they were the last times of   
   that era.   
      
   St. John the Baptist was the person sent by God to lay straight the   
   way of the Lord, to prepare for the coming of Jesus Christ, to act in   
   the last times before the Messiah. The Apostle of the Last Times also   
   must prepare for the coming of Our Lord; he will also have to act in   
   the last times before the second coming of the Messiah. There is a   
   parallel between these two men, just as there is a parallel between   
   the first and the second coming of the Messiah.   
      
   The parallel between the time of Christ and the last times is very   
   clear in the Gospel when Our Lord spoke about the fall of the Temple   
   of Jerusalem from two different perspectives. First He spoke about the   
   material destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, a prophecy that was   
   fulfilled historically by Titus in the year 70. He also spoke of the   
   destruction of the Temple from a symbolic perspective, referring to   
   the end of world, of which the Temple was a symbol.   
      
   There are two destructions of the Temple, two comings of Our Lord, two   
   men sent by God to prepare the way of the Lord. The first was St. John   
   the Baptist and the last will be Elijah, the Prophet. These two men   
   are the models, the paradigms, the prototypes of the Apostles of the   
   Last Times.   
      
   In one part of the Fiery Prayer by St. Louis Grignion de Monfort, he   
   describes the Apostles of the Last Times, pointing to those men who   
   will live in a tragic situation: “Ah, let me cry out everywhere: Fire!   
   Fire! Fire! Help! Help! Help! Fire even within the sanctuary!”   
      
   The same kind of warning was given by St. John the Baptist, a prophet   
   who pictured the moral situation of his time as extremely bad. He did   
   not fear to tell the truth to the Scribes and Pharisees. He was not   
   afraid to censure the Jewish people for the moral decadence into which   
   they had fallen. He did not tremble to spell out to Herod the evil he   
   had done – and this would be the cause of his death.   
      
   St. John the Baptist was a man who accomplished his duty of telling   
   the truth about the situation in which he lived, the entire truth,   
   completely, fearlessly, even to his death.   
      
   Also worth of note is the polemic character of the mission. The   
   Apostles described in the Fiery Prayer are fighting men, men of the   
   polemic. During his whole life St. John the Baptist was also a   
   polemicist. His life was but one long polemic to prepare the way of   
   Our Lord.   
      
   In a parallel way, one can consider how his mission was well grounded   
   in reality. St. John the Baptist fully measured the defects of men. He   
   had a complete understanding of the effects of original sin. This is   
   why he was always warning people about those defects and inviting them   
   to penitence and to change their lives. Metanoia is the Greek word   
   that means a total conversion, a complete changing of one’s life; it   
   summarizes well the goal of St. John the Baptist’s preaching. When one   
   reads St. Louis de Monfort describing man as vainer than toads, more   
   ferocious than tigers, falser than serpents, and so on, one hears   
   something of the preaching of the Apostles of the Last Times, and also   
   the preaching of St. John the Baptist.   
      
   The humility of the Apostles of the Last Times described by St. Louis   
   in the Fiery Prayer can also be compared with the extreme humility of   
   St. John the Baptist. He had that wonderful saying: “There cometh   
   after me, one mightier than I, the latchet of whose sandals I am not   
   worthy to stoop down and loose,” referring to Our Lord. And also this   
   one: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”   
      
   His mission was to announce the Messiah. Therefore, once the Lamb of   
   God had arrived, the prophecy of St. John Baptist was fulfilled, and   
   his public mission decreased as he headed toward his martyrdom. On the   
   contrary, Our Lord would increase until the complete fulfillment of   
   His divine mission. The humility of St. John the Baptist was rewarded.   
   After his martyrdom, his name was covered with glory. Our Lord said   
   that no man born from woman was greater than he. It is impossible to   
   have a higher praise or more honorable glorification. But this glory   
   had as its foundation his most profound humility. Also, the humility   
   of the Apostles of the Last Times will be rewarded, since the men who   
   will fight the last battle against the Antichrist will be considered   
   so great that Our Lord will permit them to pass directly to Heaven,   
   without experiencing death.   
      
   In these points, therefore, one can see a parallel between the mission   
   of St. John the Baptist and the Apostles of the Last Times, namely   
   Elijah, the greatest of them. You could ask me: Where is the devotion   
   of St. John Baptist to Mary? What place did Our Lady have in his   
   preaching?   
      
   Only later would Our Lady become manifest to the piety of the   
   faithful. Her action in the Church intensified only after Our Lord   
   ascended to Heaven and left her here to influence the destiny of the   
   Church. The mission of St. John Baptist was not to preach directly   
   about Our Lady. But in his life, there was an important event. When   
   Our Lady went to visit St. Elizabeth, he had the great fortune to hear   
   the voice of Our Lady and feel a joy from within the womb of St.   
   Elizabeth. The latter, after hearing the salutation of Mary, told her   
   that her infant had leaped with joy in her womb. He was, therefore, a   
   soul intensely turned toward Mary. Hearing her voice, he understood   
   her, loved her and leaped with joy.   
      
   There is a solid tradition in the Church that says St. John Baptist   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)