John the Baptist, Model of Self Awareness

One of the great obstacles to the spiritual life is our ego. Often, if we are not careful, we can allow our ego to give us an inaccurate understanding of who we are. Our egos can distort our sense of our abilities, our importance. People with inflated egos are very difficult to work with or live with.

John the Baptist had many good reasons to have an inflated ego. He was the first prophet to arise in Israel in hundreds of years. He was apparently a mesmerizing preacher. The Gospels recount that all of Judea went out to hear him preach at the Jordan River, and thousands were baptized by him. Many assumed he was the long awaited Messiah. It would have been very easy for John to have claimed that title. Yet, he did not.

In fact, John went out of his way to end any undue speculation of his identity. Instead, he pointed away from himself and toward Jesus. John knew who he was, and he knew the role he was meant to play in salvation history. Accepting oneself for who one is, this is a spiritual and emotional task necessary for growth in our walk with the Lord. Using John as our model, we can become a more humble and honest people.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF OUR NEW “DIP” JARS

As you know, we are using one Sunday of the month to promote a “Ten Buck” collection for our capital campaign. We’re asking everyone to drop in ten dollars so that we can accumulate enough cash to break ground on our new Early Childhood Development Center (and reclaim classrooms for parish use). Often, people tell us that they simply don’t carry cash or use a checkbook. No worries, we now have a Dip Jar that will accept your credit card. It’s pre-programmed to charge your credit card ten dollars.

I believe the next few months will be extremely critical in the campaign to build our Childhood Development Center. If everyone would chip in just ten dollars once a month, we could make a significant gift to ourselves. The Dip Jars could aid us in expanding participation.