\u2026say to those whose hearts are frightened:
\nBe strong, fear not!
\nHere is your God..
\nI am trying to imagine St John the Baptist in his last days… In prison, that gloomy, dirty hole, well underneath the sumptuous living quarters of the king. He must have missed both the clean air and the boundless space of the desert. Food \u2013 less so, as he was used to drastic fasting from childhood.\u00a0 No soft bed or warm robes for this prophet – ever.
\nHe must have missed the flowing waters of Jordan river and the eager faces of the people who came from near and afar, too. They were his people, his spiritual children and he felt responsible for each of them.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/jp2doc.pl\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/04\/584e7521b2d35prison-553836_960_720-300x200.jpg\")
\nIf you are called to proclaim the word of God, you miss the people who hunger for God more than anything else. You can fit them all in your heart and they do not leave it, either in your life or your death. They are \u201cyour people\u201d in this life and the next.<\/p>\n
He knew that his mission was coming to the end. He was aware of hatred of the royal court.
\nQuestions were probably flooding in, as they always do when we are facing a Change and look back at life\u2019s choices.\u00a0 Some were coming from his own soul, some from the Tempter. Should he, Jan\u00a0 have stayed quiet? Should he have risen his prophet\u2019s voice only against the sins of the people, not the king\u2019s sins? Not the queen\u2019s sins? Should he have avoided danger in order to baptize more of those who were genuinely waiting for the Messiah? Has he done enough for Him upon Whom the Spirit had rested on his very eyes, there in the waters of Jordan?\u00a0 Was it his pride that made him attack the king? Has he frustrated\u00a0 some (unknown) God\u2019s plans by doing it?<\/p>\n
Peace must have come to him, eventually, when he admitted that he must diminish himself so that The Promised One could grow.. This was the moment when he became a true prophet.
\nYou do not become a prophet when you speak to the thousands or even hundreds of thousands\u2013 and they listen. Not when you have visions and revelations. Not when you make decisions that affect whole continents. It is when you allow God to diminish you \u2013 and you accept it and still trust in His love and mercy.<\/p>\n
For years we have watched John Paul II being diminished by terrible sickness, age, infirmity. For some of us, it is time to follow him on this path, for others this time will come. May we stay faithful.<\/p>\n
\u2026say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God.. I am trying to imagine St John the Baptist in his last days… In prison, that gloomy, dirty hole, well underneath the sumptuous living quarters of the king. He must have missed both the clean air and the boundless space […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n