This weekend, we hear the resounding voices of two prophets from different eras. The first one from the Old Testament, Isaiah, passionately proclaims that God the Father wants to comfort his people with tenderness. In the New Testament, John the Baptist prepares people’s hearts for the king of kings and urges them to be ready to receive God’s loving embrace.
The Gospel starts: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God.” It’s a long phrase where God and his Son are center stage, and that’s good news.
We speak of “The Beginning,” which restarts the creation as in Genesis, and Jesus is now the master builder with a merciful regard.
The old image of an angry God is a fallacy; He brings the best gift, his Son, who lovingly shares his Holy Spirit, thus allowing us to have God as our true Father. Humanity is not only about physical life but God’s eternal life through His Son.
The Gospel is not a book but a person, Jesus, the Son of God, blooming among us. The new beginning is based on “good news,” allowing us to plan, connect, and live again without being held back by bitterness, mistakes, or evil; forgiveness becomes the healing Gospel, washing away the shadows lingering in the heart.
The good news of Jesus is a story filled with a promising future for us and the world, filled with light because God is ever closer, close as breath, close as heart—fragrance of life.