Scripture Scribbles: December 7, 2025
the Gospel
Matthew 3:1-12
John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel's hair
and had a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea,
and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves,
'We have Abraham as our father.'
For I tell you,
God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.
I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand.
He will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
the scribble
I can almost feel the heat of the sun in the desert as I hear John the Baptist’s passionate invitation to repent to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. The way he preaches is intense and oriented toward urgent change. His deep experience of the holiness of God pulses through everything he says. I hear an echo of the prophet Isaiah’s words from the first reading in John’s preaching:
“He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.”
This is describing Jesus.
He is the Holy of Holies.
His word holds all things in existence (Hebrews 1:3).
And right now, this very moment, we have the chance to repent, to begin again, so that we can fully receive him.
We have the chance to make straight his paths in our hearts and lives.
As we enter this second week of Advent, we are passionately called to follow John into the wilderness in preparation, into stillness, into encounter with the holiness of God. We have this moment, this chance, to invite the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts and show us the paths that need to be made straight. We have this chance to go to confession. We have this chance to go to daily mass. We have this chance to adore him in the Blessed Sacrament. We have this chance to put him at the center of everything and to allow him to set us ablaze with his light, his hope, his peace, his joy and his love.
It is not too late right now, even if it feels like the calendar is already too booked and the to-do list too full of things. God is the God of every little detail. If we surrender it all to him in humility and faith, and choose to begin again to live this season with new hearts, he will delight in making the way. Two Advents ago, I learned this at the very last minute (here’s the story). And it wasn’t too late for God to do “more than I could have asked or imagined” (Ephesians 3:20).
Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker DeMarco
