Saturday after Epiphany

“Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.”John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said that I am not the Christ, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.”

John reminds us that in order to be a true disciple of Christ that we must decrease in order for Jesus to increase in us. We are supposed to be the best men and maids of honor to the glorious union between Jesus and the Church, his spiritual bride. We are meant to prepare the way of the Lord into this world through our thoughts, words, and works. We share in the joy of Jesus’ union with his beloved Church through the sacraments. We stand by him, listen for him, and celebrate the vows he has made to the Church through the gospels. What is even more profound is that we are all called to be members of that Church and be espoused to Christ through our faith by finding our fulfillment through emptying ourselves and allowing Jesus to fill us with himself.

Are we preparing the way of the Lord not only into our lives, but the lives of others? Do we rejoice in the message of the gospels? Are we willing to decrease so that Jesus might increase through us?

O Lord, increase within us and through us to others.

Amen.