Message from Fr. Brito:

3rd Sunday of Advent Year A

      The wonderful and joyful prophecies that are presented in the first reading today have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. "They saw the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God."  “Be strong, fear not. Here is your God, he comes with vindication; with divine recompense he comes to save you. "

In the Gospel of today, St. John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask Jesus this question: Are you the one who is to come or do we have to wait for another?

Now I firmly believe that John had no doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. He sends his disciples to ask this question not because he doubted but wanted them to convince themselves that Jesus was the one. They themselves saw the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah, when they saw for themselves the actions of Jesus Christ. With this action of sending his disciples to see and meet Jesus Christ, John the Baptist will decrease and Jesus will increase.

        After the disciples of John leave, Jesus begins to sing the praises of John, saying: "Amen I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom is greater than he. ""

John was the voice of the one crying in the wilderness "to prepare the way of the Lord" He prepared the people of the old world for the reception of Christ.

      This past week we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As I we reflect on this event in the New World, we see God preparing the hearts of the people to receive His divine Son by the preaching of another John, "Juan Diego." His preaching is done through the presentation of his “tilma”, which bore the image of the mother of God. The Virgin Mary, when speaking of Juan Diego called him: "the smallest of my children". But many centuries later, when Juan Diego would be canonized by Pope John Paul II who said of him: "Juan Diego is the greatest of all evangelists." The humility of Juan Diego was the virtue that allows God to use him for this great commission. Through Juan Diego, more people came to Christ in mass than at another place and time. It is often said: "a picture is worth a thousand words". For the native peoples of the Americas, especially the Aztec Indians and the other indigenous nations and tribes  the image that our Blessed Mother left Juan Diego spoke to the hearts of these people in a way that no words could.

After John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Father says, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased" and again in his Transfiguration the Father says, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him"

        The Virgin Mary, referring to her Divine Son, says: "Do whatever he tells you" The time is coming to receive Jesus Christ again as we prepare to celebrate his birthday. Our preparation time will soon comes to an end. So let us use these last days wisely so that we are prepared to welcome Jesus with a heart full of love, peace and joy.  Amen