December 23 - St. John the Baptist
Thus says the Lord G od : Lo, I am sending my messenger To prepare the way before me… Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the L ord comes, The great and terrible day. - Malachi 3:23-24 The words of the Prophet Malachi come at the very end of the Old Testament and, as Richard Rohr, O.F.M., observes, they form a perfect segue to the New Testament: They describe the one who will be the fitting precursor for any coming Messiah. Christians have, of course, usually applied this passage to John the Baptist, as Jesus himself and the Gospel writers already had done... [Malachi] describes the work of the God Messenger as both 'great and terrible,' both wonderful and threatening at the same time. It is not that the Word of God is threatening us with fire and brimstone, but rather it is saying that goodness is its own reward and evil is its own punishment . (From Preparing for Christmas ). However much we might we might want it to be otherw...