Today, Saturday after Epiphany, marks the close of the Christmas season.
John talks of his role as the “the friend of the groom” (shoshben) the best-man who in Jewish tradition arranges wedding. A shoshben arranges the meeting of the bride and groom, plans the details of the wedding, presides over the wedding, guards the bridal chamber and leaves happily. Similarly, John prepared the bride, namely, the Jewish nation for receiving her bridegroom, Jesus the Messiah, by baptizing the people who were willing to repent and then introducing him to the people as the “Lamb of God.”
Just as in the case of John the Baptist, God has given a unique mission to each one of us. We are expected to accomplish that unique mission by receiving God’s strength through the various means Jesus has instituted in his Church. No one can receive anything except what
has been given from Heaven. Amen.
Fr. Jerry Joseph Vallomkunnel MCBS