Fr. Ryan Lerner, Chaplain
“Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, [saying]…This is the one about whom Scripture says: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, he will prepare your way before you.”
The text that Jesus is referring to comes from the Prophet Malachi. Interestingly, Malachi’s name may have just been a pseudonym based on the Hebrew word, mal’ākî, which means “my messenger.” The prophet opens his short but powerful book with a consoling message: “I love you, says the Lord…” BUT, God and God’s people need to have a talk. In the following chapters, we learn that the people return God’s love poorly. They aren’t into it. This manifests in every possible way through their actions and attitudes. Just before God issues a challenging call to reform in the third and final chapter, the prophet says: “Now I am sending my messenger. He will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple. The messenger of the covenant whom you desire, see, he is coming!”
Malachi is referring to Elijah, the prophetic messenger of the covenant, whose job was to prepare God’s people for the day of the coming of the Lord. The prophet tells us that God remains faithful to the covenant even when we human beings break it. Through the Prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading, God tells us that no matter what: “…you shall not be put to shame; you need not be blush; you shall not be disgraced…[for] your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. The Lord calls you back. With enduring love I take pity you, says the Lord, your redeemer. My love shall never leave you, nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord.”
Whether we’re reading/listening to Isaiah, Malachi, Elijah or John the Baptist – there’s an urgency and a persistence to their messages, which is why I’ve always envisioned God’s prophets as sort of endurance runners. According to Runner’s World, I’m not far off my assumption, because apparently the very word for courier (message carrier) means “runner,” from the Latin currere, which means “to run.”
We are in the final stretch of Advent and in the final stretch of the semester here at STM. Everything feels fast-paced—there’s an urgency to everything that’s on our minds and hearts. But, let’s also strive to know and keep in our hearts the prophetic message that is always consistent: that God loves you, that God will never abandon you and as you strive with all your heart to live your life in an all-in, loving response to God in everything you do, you will experience peace and joy at the Lord’s coming.
Each of us are called to be God’s messengers. Having received that message of love, God sends us out to those who need to hear this message the most. So, as the Solemn Blessing for Advent never fails to remind us: “As you run the race of this present life, may God make you firm in faith, joyful in hope and active in charity.”
