Blog:"none greater than John the Baptist": Difference between revisions
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<center>[[File:2021-10-10 site of Michael's Baptism pano w- DJ.jpg|none|thumb|850x850px|<small>An industrial stream in lower central Pennsylvania: the site of Michael's baptism, October 10, 2021.</small>]]</center> | <center>[[File:2021-10-10 site of Michael's Baptism pano w- DJ.jpg|none|thumb|850x850px|<small>An industrial stream in lower central Pennsylvania: the site of Michael's baptism, October 10, 2021.</small>]]</center> | ||
= God is Grace = | <blockquote>A man named John was sent from God. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/1?6 Jn 1:6])</blockquote> | ||
His name in Hebrew is "Yohanan," which means "God is grace":<blockquote> | = "God is Grace" = | ||
His name in Hebrew is "Yohanan," which means "God is gracious."<ref>See [https://netbible.org/bible/Luke+1 Constable's notes in Luke 1:13]</ref> | |||
Except for the senses of ''favor/ favored, dignify/ dignified, or honor/ honored'', you won't find the Christian sense of the word "grace" as "participation in the life of God<ref>See [https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/484/ CCC 1997]</ref>" in the Old Testament. So when the angel told Zechariah to name his child "John," his understanding would be that he should be grateful to God for the child, which came to him of God's "graciousness" or generosity.<ref>The English "grace" comes of the PIE root '''*gwere-''' for "to favor" and from which we get words like "agree," "congratulate," "gracious", "grateful," gratitude," etc. (or in the negative sense, "ingrate" and "ungrateful").</ref> | |||
God always has larger plans: grace in the Christian sense is gift-wrapped for us in baptism. From the Catechism<ref>[https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/486/ CCC 1999]</ref> )<blockquote> | |||
The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the ''sanctifying'' or ''deifying grace'' received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification: | |||
''Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.''<ref>From [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/2corinthians/5:17 2 Cor 5:17-18]</ref></blockquote> | |||
The entire point of the Christian baptism, then is "God is grace," or "John." | |||
== The Baptizer == | |||
I like to call him "the Baptizer." Interestingly, in some Orthodox churches, he is known as "John the Forerunner," which speaks to his Biblical role. However, "God is grace" speaks most clearly to his Biblical purpose, which we pray on Easter Sunday Mass,<blockquote>Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs, | |||
which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power. | which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power. | ||