Humility and Boldness
Liturgy of Wednesday, June 24, 2026, Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
Dear friends, The liturgy of Wednesday, June 24, invites us to celebrate the birth of Saint John the Baptist. He is the greatest Prophet of the Old Testament because he is the only one who can proclaim the presence of the Messiah, sent by God to save not only the Jewish people, but all humanity! His mission is crucial because it was meant to prepare his contemporaries, and in some ways, Christians of all times, to perceive and recognize the presence of the Savior, accept him, and follow him. His "recipe" is very simple: The mountains must be made low and the valleys filled in. In this way, every man will see God's salvation!
The metaphor of the mountains that must be lowered, dear friends, represents the pride and arrogance that must be eliminated from our lives, and Pope Francis can help us understand why these attitudes are so dangerous. In fact, in the audience of April 13, 2016, he said, among other things, "Pride and arrogance are a wall! Indeed, they prevent us from recognizing our need for salvation; rather, they prevent us from seeing the merciful face of God and from acting with mercy. A wall that separates us from God and our brothers and sisters and locks us in an invisible prison...
The metaphor of the valleys that must be filled, on the other hand, represents the fears that paralyze, that settling for the mediocrity of "just getting by." It was Pope Francis who, in the audience of June 13, 2018, warned everyone, but especially young people, that the greatest danger preventing them from living their lives to the full is not concrete problems, no matter how serious and dramatic: the greatest danger in life is a evil spirit of adaptation, which is not meekness or humility, but mediocrity, pusillanimity.
A mediocre young person, the Pope stated, has no future, does not grow, will not succeed!
A healthy restlessness is necessary, the Pope said, because where can humanity go without restless young people, hungry for authentic life? Dear friends, God only knows how much today's world needs Christians who, like John the Baptist, have, on the one hand, the humility that "makes room" for God in their hearts and, on the other, the boldness that makes them fearless in the face of the lobbies and powerful forces of this world and, therefore, capable of making the merciful justice of our God present!