Thought for the Day – 10 December – Meditations with Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
Meditations for Advent
From “The Devout Year”
By Fr Richard Frederick Clarke SJ (1839-1900)
The Forerunner of the King
+1. St John Baptist was the chosen messenger to proclaim the coming of the King of kings.
No other Herald had so important an office. He had to prepare the hearts of men for the Coming of the Messias. It was this which constituted him, “the greatest of those born of women.”
If to proclaim the Coming of Christ in the flesh was so solemn and responsible an office, what then must be the dignity and responsibility of the Priests of God, who are sent to announce His Second Coming in glory?
+2. How did St John prepare for his work?
By a life of seclusion and penance.
From childhood, he lived alone in the desert, his bed the hard
ground, his meat locusts and wild honey, his dress a camel’s skin.
Our Lord contrasts him with those who wear soft raiment. No-one who lives a life of luxury, will ever be an efficient messenger of God. A Priest, above all, must avoid a life of ease and self-indulgence, if he wishes to win souls for Christ.
+3. The secret of St John’s success was thus, the result of practising what he preached. He practiced much more than he preached, for he enjoined upon his hearers, the simple performance of ordinary duties, while he himself, led a life of continual penance and self-denial.
If our words are to carry any weight, we must not preach without practising. The parent or superior, who has the
training of the young, will never train them to virtue, unless he himself is a man of virtue.
No-one can reach the hearts of others, unless he firstly fulfils the lessons he teaches.
Do I do this?
AnaStpaul 
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