From my seminarian days, Bethany was the part of the seminary complex where communal dormitories and bathrooms were located. Only freshmen were assigned there when there were not enough private rooms with private bathrooms in the main, five story building to house all the seminarians. I had a private room during my first semester, and I was supposed to move to Bethany for the second semester of my first year. I was resigned to giving up my private room when we learned that one of the seminarians on the list to relocate to communal rooms could stay. That was one of the drawings I participated in during my life that I really wanted to win. And I did win! I did not have to move to Bethany.

I share this story with you today because Saint John the Evangelist in the gospel reading tells us that Bethany across the Jordan was the place where Saint John the Baptist was baptizing. This is a different Bethany from the one that we are familiar with; the other Bethany near Jerusalem where Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived, and was a retreat location for the Lord. Bethany across the Jordan is the location of the Lord’s baptism. I never learned the reason why the communal dormitories in the seminary were named after this town from Biblical times.

During the season of Advent, the Church presents us with two main characters as examples for the preparation of the coming of the Lord. They are Saint John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint John the Baptist is the subject of reflection on the first two or three Sundays of Advent, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is the subject during the fourth Sunday. I would like to offer you some comments on Saint John the Baptist today and highlight one of the most important ways he teaches us to wait for the Lord as we prepare for his coming.

After several centuries without a prophet in Israel, a powerful preacher appeared baptizing in the Jordan. The gospel writers tell us that people were going to him in vast numbers. Saint John the Evangelist tells us today that some priests and Levites were asking Saint John the Baptist important questions. They wanted to know whether he was the Messiah, that is, the expected Savior.

When they learned that he was not, they kept asking whether he was one of the other figures God had promised and the people were waiting for. They asked him about Elijah, who was supposed to return before the coming of the Messiah. They asked him about the Prophet that Moses foretold of that was to be even greater than Moses himself. From Saint John the Evangelist we learn that Saint John the Baptist was not the light but a witness to the light, who is the Lord. From Saint John the Baptist himself we learn that he is the voice of one crying out in the desert, which was foretold by the prophet Isaiah. Saint John the Baptist also made clear that he was not the Word who, again, is the Lord.

Saint John the Baptist teaches us many ways to wait for the Lord and prepare for his coming. I would like to highlight one today: prayer. The fact that he chose the desert as his residence shows us a man who wanted to be away from worldly distractions and dedicate himself to listening to and reflecting on the Word of God. We do not need to permanently move to the desert to become more serious about prayer. We do need to move away from worldly distractions for periods of time every day to focus on prayer. Prayer is our daily desert experience.  

Both at the beginning and end of the liturgical year, the Church offers us gospel readings with the themes of both the end of the world and of the Lord’s second coming. The words that the Lord repeats the most are, “Watch, be prepared”.  A watchful Christian is a person who prays. We need to pray more. We need to become people committed to prayer by actively incorporating it into our daily lives.

One of the things that I recommend most during the sacrament of confession is to pray more. When we acknowledge and confess our sins, we realize how hard it is to be virtuous people. We need to pray more to learn from the Lord, who is virtue itself, to become more virtuous people. We need to pray more to ask the Lord for his grace to live the virtue that we find difficult to master.

Let us humbly ask the Lord to grant us his grace to be people of prayer as Saint John the Baptist was, and better prepare ourselves for his coming.