Fr Paul reads today from the Gospel of Luke (7: 24-30) in which Jesus speaks to the crowd about John.

Fr Paul says Jesus in the Gospel today gives John the Baptist the highest possible praise – John was not just a prophet, but he was, in fact, a messenger of the Lord himself.  This Gospel writer quotes Malachi in relation to John and the Gospel of Mark does the same, right at the very beginning of Mark’s Gospel.  This acknowledgement of John the Baptist is of unique importance and those that accepted John’s baptism have, in fact, accepted God’s plan for them.

Fr Paul says mindful that John is a messenger of the Lord himself, for my own prayer today – how am I a messenger for the Lord in our world here and now? What can I do to be like John to bring the message of Jesus to others?