Proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins

9 DECEMBER (Lk 3,1-6)

Our faith is a historic event. Creation, original sin, redemption, justification and salvation are historical events. Every Word that God speaks to man, for who receives the Word is a historical man, that lives here and now; is a historical event. Historical event is the gift of the Word because it creates a new history; transforms and changes it from the inside; elevates, frees and gives it a dimension of true peace. The Word always produces a fruit, either of perdition or of salvation.

The Incarnation of the Son of the Most High, of the Word made flesh and come to live among us is a historical event. His passion, death, resurrection and glorious ascension into heaven are historical events. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles gathered in prayer in the Upper Room is a historical event. The Church sent by Jesus into the world to fill it with grace and truth is a historical event. Historical events are my, your conversions, the abandonment of sin and the new life in Jesus Christ. The difference between the holy and the unholy, between the righteous that lives of faith and the non righteous that runs through the ways of evil, sin and death; are historical events.

A historical event is the descent of the Word of God on John the Baptist. The Evangelist Luke tells us exactly when the Word has come down: “In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the desert.” At this particular moment in world history, the Lord arouses his prophet so that he begins to prepare the way for his Messiah. Since the descent of the word is a historic event, a historical event is what the word produces, ie the influx of the masses to John and all movement of conversion and return to God of many hearts.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. He went throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'”

A historical event is the word of God that descends. Historical events are the fruits of the word. John invites hearts to prepare the way of the Lord, to straighten its paths, to fill every gap, to lower every mountain and hill, to make straight the crooked paths and pave those inaccessible. All this must be done because every man must see the salvation of God. However, but not a salvation outside of history, far in time, which will be fulfilled in eternity. Instead, it is a salvation that takes place today, in time, that will be for all a real historical event, a real event made visible, audible, verifiable, testable that can be witnessed.

This is the big mistake of some contemporary theology: stating and claiming that salvation is to future one, of the last day and that this salvation is for everyone and that all religions are ways of true salvation. This theology lacks in an absolute truth in the context of our faith: it is today that the salvation of God is carried out, in history, in this time, in our bodies and not only in our souls. The salvation of man is a true historic act of the whole man in his body, in his spirit and in his soul, now and here, in this place, time, space and particular moment. Jesus Christ comes to operate the salvation of history in history. His is not a salvation after death. It is also. But it will be if it is first of all a historic act. It is the saved and redeemed historical act of today that generates eternal salvation. The present produces the future.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us this truth.