By Fr. Edward Gibney, State Chaplain, Saskatchewan Knights of Columbus 

(Re-printed with permission from the November 2021 edition of the Knightline newsletter)

In the Gospel of Mark, we hear John the Baptist, proclaiming: “One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals.”

John the Baptist, as the herald of the coming Messiah, can certainly be recognized as one of the great humans who have ever walked this earth, and that statement is true even in recalling the overwhelming number of kings, world leaders and even athletes, who like Muhammad Ali, did not have any problem with calling themselves, “The Greatest.” Yet in the passage above, John clearly states that he is not even worthy to “stoop down and untie the thong” of Jesus’ sandals. John’s greatness is in his ability to be humble. What made St. John the Baptist so great was the humility with which He pointed everyone toward Jesus.

One of the greatest human struggles in life is pride. Our society believes in the importance of drawing attention to oneself. And led by this concept, most people struggle with being able to tell others how good others are and why others are right. We want the attention, recognition and praise for ourselves. To recognize the special abilities of others or to advise people to listen to someone else, runs in opposition to our desire to be raised and considered, ‘The Greatest.’

But what our fallen human nature often fails to recognize is that humility is one of the greatest attributes we can have and is, by far, the greatest source of greatness in life. Humility is found clearly in the words and actions of John the Baptist. He knew who Jesus was. He pointed to Jesus and turned the eyes of his followers from himself to his Lord. And it is this act of pointing others to Christ that has the double effect of elevating him to the greatness that self-centred pride can never achieve.

What could be greater than the act of pointing others to the Saviour of the World? What could be greater than helping others to discover their purpose in life by coming to know Christ Jesus? What could be greater than elevating the Truth, over the selfish lies of our confused and misguided society?

I encourage you to use the remaining weeks of our Advent Season to follow the example of John the Baptist and point others toward the true greatness of our Lord, who was born as a human being to save us and guide us to eternal life with him. If you want your life to have true value and meaning, then use your life to elevate the Saviour of the World to the greatest extent possible in the eyes of those around you. Point others to Jesus, make Jesus the central focus of your life and humble yourself before Him. In this act of humility, your greatness will be recognized by others, in your humble recognition of the one and only, ‘The Greatest.’

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