Our gospel passage for today tells us that John, son of Zechariah, was in the wilderness when the word of God came to him calling him to begin his public ministry. Can you picture him at that time? I imagine him alone in a barren landscape, struggling with a quandary, wondering just what God had in mind for him. He knew all the stories about his unusual birth. (Lk.1:5-25, 57-80) What did they mean? Take time to read his birth story and consider what impact that had on his life. I suspect he had spent his life studying the scriptures, learning from the prophets, preparing himself for God’s call. As he waited for the fullness of time, he could have gone to the wilderness near Qumran to see the Essenes for help in discerning his call. Finally it came to him, revealed in the words of the prophet Isaiah (40:3-5).

We know the rest of the story, how “he went to all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” and how his questions about God’s will didn’t leave him, for example, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus “Are you the one. . . or are we to wait for another?” (Lk.7:19) John continued his prophetic ministry of “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable” until his death at the hand of Herod and his wife Herodias.

John is known as the Forerunner of Christ Jesus, preparing the world for his incarnation. We too are forerunners of Christ’s second coming. What does that mean for us? I doubt that many of us are called into a wilderness to copy John’s ministry, though some may be. I suspect, however, that we, each and all, are being called somehow into the dark wildernesses of our world to share the good news of God’s everlasting love that we have experienced in our own lives. As St. Francis said, “. . . use words if you must.”