From the different conversations I had with men and women from all walks of life, I felt that the danger of indifference, is slowly creeping in our hearts as we tend to ignore the world’s prevailing realities. The pandemic has intensified the suffering that our world endures. Death and sickness rather unexpectedly, have knocked at the doors of more than a million men and women of the world. Fear, sadness and a deep spirit of loss have invaded our hearts and souls.

And, as the celebration of the birth of Christ, is approaching, it seems that many of us are no longer mourning the loss that we all have experienced. We pretend that all is well and we become excessively preoccupied with the material aspects of the celebration of Christmas. Thousands of people are on the streets of our cities and towns and are busy looking for worldly pleasures to distance themselves from this year of suffering and hardship.

We tend to forget that the whole world is going through the wilderness and that it is time for us, to listen to the voice crying in the desert.

The voice crying in the desert is John the Baptist whom we have heard about during this season of Advent.  He has come and he comes today, to “testify to the light, the true light that was coming into the world”.

John was filled with peace and joy as he was faithfully convinced that the Kingdom of God is near and that hope will soon emerge from the dark age his contemporaries and him were experiencing.

Today, as we are also living through a time of uncertainty, let us now meet with John the Baptist as he reminds us that there is a need to meet the One who comes in Love to fulfill our lives. He shed lights on the realities of our own inadequacies and weaknesses.

John the Baptist tells us how to give a true meaning to our existence. He brings us back to a story that reassures us that this year’s sad realities will fade away. He gives sustenance to our desire to live and to welcome the joy of the One who is coming. Through John the Baptist, we are reminded of our identity as witnesses of the Holy Story that has penetrated our lives. It will give us the strength to give to the Christmas story its true face: a face painted with the colours of humility, solidarity and  sacrificial love: The Face of God.

This is how we shall conquer our inability to face the unusual situation we are going through. Darkness will fade away and a new day will arise.