I baptise you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the

chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

Why did John the Baptist prophesy that the Messiah would come and "baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire? Fire in biblical times was often associated with God's presence and with his action in the lives of his people. God sometimes manifested his presence by use of fire, such as the burning bush which was not consumed when God spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:2). The image of fire was also used to symbolise God's glory (Ezekiel 1:4, 13), his protective presence (2 Kings 6:17), his holiness (Deuteronomy 4:24), righteous judgment (Zechariah 13:9), and his wrath against sin (Isaiah 66:15-16). Fire was also used as a sign of the Holy Spirit's power and presence (Matthew 3:11). When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, tongues of fire appeared over the heads of the apostles and disciples of Jesus (Acts 2:3). The fire of the Holy Spirit purifies and cleanses us of sin, and it inspires a reverent fear of God and of his word in us.

On this Second Sunday of Advent may we as a Parish community desire to be on fire for God and for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes again in his glory. John's baptism was for repentance - turning away from sin and taking on a new way of life according to God's word. Our baptism in Jesus Christ by water and the Spirit results in a new birth and entry into God's kingdom as his beloved sons and daughters. The Lord Jesus Christ gives us the fire of his Spirit so that we may radiate the joy and truth of the Gospel to a world in desperate need of God's light and truth.



Fr John

Advent Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, by Theodoret of Cyr 393-466 A.D. "The true consolation, the genuine comfort and the real deliverance from the iniquities of humankind is the incarnation of our God and Saviour. Now the first who acted as herald of this event was the inspired John the Baptist. Accordingly, the prophetic text proclaims the realities that relate to him in advance, for that is what the three blessed Evangelists have taught us and that the most divine Mark has even made the prologue of his work. As for the inspired John, whom the Pharisees asked whether he himself was the Christ, he declared on his part: 'I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord' as the prophet Isaiah said.

© 2022 Servants of the Word, source: dalyscripture.net, author Don Schwager.