R. Lord come and save us. Cf. ISAIAH 35:4 (Psalm 146)

This is the one whom I sent—a PROPHET!

John the Baptist has lived like a patient farmer awaiting “the precious fruit of the earth.” From the midst of the “hardship and patience” that he suffers in prison for being a prophet “who spoke in the name of the Lord,” John’s heart bears only one question: “Are you the one who is to come?” John’s longing for Christ keeps him full of hope in the midst of suffering. He lives with the expectation that he will “see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.” And that is why Christ’s reply is so deliberately elaborate. When John hears of the miraculous benefits accorded to the blind, the lame, the leprous, the deaf, and the poor, he will know that the One he has been waiting for all his life has come: the God of mercy. The greatness of John the Baptist is his refusal to settle for anything less.

—Magnificat Magazine for 12-11-22 Mass

A prophet stays close to God, hears His voice and shares the message! Are you a prophet? How can you stay close enough to God to hear Him and understand the message you need to share? How can you be more like Jesus today?

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[Jesus read from Scripture]“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19