Today the message is one of joy, reflected in the colour pink. There is also a message about social justice. We are bombarded with pictures in magazines and on television, of tables groaning under the weight of delicious foods, tempting us to gorge. Yet many people have little to eat. A newspaper report recently told of people queueing from 4:00am for food parcels which had run out by 9:00am.
John the Baptist set an example of austerity, showing how little is essential for survival. He set out concrete suggestions for people to live justly. If they had two tunics they should share with someone who had none. They should deal honestly and be content with what they had. If a person wanted to repent and reform, John was pointing them in the right direction.
There is a story of an wise Indian grandfather, who told his grandson how we all have two wolves fighting inside us. One is full of love and generosity; the other with hatred and greed. The grandson asked, “Who will win, grandfather?” The old man replied: “Whichever one we feed.”
The joy expressed in today’s liturgy is not the ephemeral happiness brought by an abundance of material goods but the deep seated experience of the love of God.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless till it rest in you.” (St Augustine)