"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." When we were children we were taught this little rhyme as a way to remember one of the most momentous events in modern history. Columbus was a trailblazer who dared to believe that it was possible to reach the East Indies by sailing west across a vast uncharted ocean. By its very nature the voyage was dangerous and the sailors who braved the challenge were filled with fear. People are instinctively afraid of what they do not know. Yet, even with the odds stacked against him, Columbus sailed with his flotilla of three ships. His eventual discovery of the New World blazed a path that many have followed. He was the first in a long and distinguished line of adventurers who made the Age of Discovery so critical to world history. Without Columbus it may have been many years before the New World was found and the European world turned, as a consequence, upside down.
About eighty years later Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish priest and amateur astronomer, initiated another revolution. His observations of the heavens convinced him that the theory of Ptolemy, named for the Roman astronomer, that the earth was the center of the universe, was wrong. Copernicus was convinced that the sun was the center of the solar system with the earth one of many heavenly bodies which rotated around it. This heliocentric theory was not supported by church officials who agreed with Ptolemy, stating that his ideas were verified in the scriptures. Thus, Copernicus was forced to wait until the year of his death to publish his work. But when the world learned of his work, it became the first and most profound statement in the Scientific Revolution, a period of approximately 100 years that ultimately propelled the world into its contemporary nuclear age. Copernicus, like Columbus, blazed a path that others were able to follow.
In 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out on an expedition that led to the opening of the West in the United States. The Louisiana Purchase had given the new nation of the United States land that extended to the Pacific Ocean, but how was this vast territory to be explored, tamed, and settled? Only through movement west would any such goals be possible. Thus, Lewis and Clark in their famous three-year journey by boat and on foot blazed a trail for countless pioneers who later went west in search of land, fortune, and fame.
Christiaan Barnard, a South African physician and surgeon, had conducted many experiments with human hearts, especially the replacement of valves. But on December 3, 1967, he performed the first heart transplant. The patient lived only eighteen days, but it was a start. His second transplant patient survived over a year and a half. Barnard was the trailblazer for modern heart surgery. Today the transplantation of a human heart is so commonplace that when it happens it receives not one word in the local paper or on the evening news.
Columbus, Copernicus, Lewis and Clark, and Christiaan Barnard were all trailblazers. They had the courage to prepare a path that others could follow, a route that in each case brought the world to a better and more advanced state. On this second Sunday of Advent we hear in our Gospel Reading about how John the Baptist blazed a special path, as he prepared the way of the Lord. We are asked to do the same for our brothers and sisters.
Saint Mark quotes Isaiah, the prophet, in speaking of the life and mission of John the Baptist: "I send my messenger before you to prepare your way: a herald's voice in the desert, crying, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, clear him a straight path.' " John was, as Isaiah had predicted, the man who blazed a path to the Lord for others to follow. The path was to be straight, with every valley filled in, every mountain made low, and the rough road made a plain. John told others about Jesus, the one who was to come, the one who was so powerful that even John was not fit to untie his sandals. John proclaimed a baptism of repentance with water, but Jesus would come with a baptism in the Holy Spirit. John was the one sent by God to point others to Christ.
John the Baptist was a great prophet who, like the prophets of earlier generations, spoke God's word to the people. We often focus on the future when we think of prophets, but John, like all of his predecessors, had a message that was timely and timeless, a message that concentrated on the need to act today. When Hosea and Amos prophesied to the northern kingdom of Israel their message was of the need for religious leaders to reform. The ruling elite were guilty of oppressing the poor, as well as idolatry. Amos was very clear that God was displeased with Israel's leaders and their failures to serve the very people who were their responsibility. He warned them that unless they changed, destruction would come. In an analogous way Hosea spoke of idolatry, not only the worship of Baal, but how other things had become the gods of the Hebrews. Since the message was not heeded, God acted and in 722 B.C.E. the nation of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and lost to history for all time. The failure to heed the warning of the prophets brought destruction to the nation. Several generations later, God sent other prophets, such as Micah and Jeremiah, who told the people that despite their transgressions God had not abandoned them. God would send a Messiah, a great king who would lead the people once again to wholeness and greatness.
John was the final prophet who prepared the way for the coming Messiah. Like his predecessors, John spoke to the people of the need to reform, to repent, and to get their relationship with God back on the proper track. As a true prophet John did not speak his own message, but rather the proclamation of God. John's role as a precursor was integrally important, but he clearly stated that he was not the one for whom the Jews had waited. His role was to blaze the path toward Jesus, so that others might follow his lead and discover the salvation that the Lord's message and salvific death would bring to the people. John understood his place. As he states, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me: I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Mark 1:7-8).
The trailblazers of history, Columbus, Copernicus, Lewis and Clark, Christiaan Barnard, and John the Baptist, have provided models for us to follow. While we, like these famous men of history, have not sensed or experienced the goal of our quest, we have some idea of its greatness. We recall Saint Paul's words, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). We might not have all the answers of the direction necessary to achieve our goal, but we do know the one and only basic path. Jesus has declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). The specifics of the tasks of being a trailblazer can vary, but we do have the basic direction of our ministry to God's people. As John, the seer of the book of Revelation (21:1), wrote: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and first earth had passed away."
How can we manifest our task of being trailblazers, leading others to Christ? One way is through the words we use. When we were children we often said, "Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me." This expression may satisfy a parent's need to ward off the harsh words between children, but we all know the great power in words. Words can be instructive. Teachers and many other professionals use words to impart information and gain intellectual mastery of a subject. Words can certainly be inspirational. Skilled orators and preachers can inspire others to achieve great things through words. Words can be used to correct errors and rectify problems.
Words can thus help us blaze a trail to Christ, but we must be judicious in their use. Words are issued from our mouths, more precisely our tongues, a small but mighty part of the body. Saint James has provided a warning on the proper use of our tongues. He analogizes the tongue to the rudder of a ship, a small item but it steers a large vessel wherever the pilot wishes. James (3:8-10a) warns, "No one can tame the tongue — a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing." We must, therefore, be judicious in our use of words and be equally cautious in how we say the things we proclaim. All of us have experienced how tone, approach, and timing are critical in our use of words. Therefore, we must be ever conscious of our role as trailblazers in our speech.
Actions are another important way that we blaze a trail toward the Lord. We have all proclaimed many times, "Actions speak louder than words"; thus, we must be mindful of what we do at all times. People are attracted to or pushed away from us by what they observe and hear. Some people have special roles as trailblazers to Christ in their actions. Parents serve a very significant role as trailblazers by the example they provide for their children. It is imperative that parents place children on the proper road, the path of life, and avoid at all costs words and actions that lead children along the road to destruction. Teachers, coaches, and mentors also have a highly significant and important role as trailblazers to Christ. Young people look to you for guidance. We can all remember teachers and coaches who inspired us to eventually take the path they mapped out, whether is was greatness in the classroom or on the athletic field. Both ventures were based on the same foundation of hard work, striving for excellence, and a sense of fair play and justice in all our words and actions.
Today, possibly more than in the past, young people are tasked with the challenge and responsibility to be trailblazers. Adult mentors can provide proper example and a proven path to follow, but peer example is equally important. In a society which is so accustomed to following the crowd that often leads away from God, there is a significant need for articulate young people of faith who can, by their own words and example, give light to many of their friends who reside, sometimes by choice and other times by ignorance, in a world devoid of the light of Christ. While the world offers one path, young people must choose an alternative way, a road that is often illuminated by a compatriot who is seeking the same route to God.
Industry today certainly needs trailblazers to provide the path to an ethical and just way of conducting day-to-day business. The bottom line of profit must be replaced with an ethic that stresses the common good. Surely we labor to support our families, but there must be more. We can only blaze a path toward Christ in our daily eight-to-five routine if we have an attitude that is less self-centered and more community oriented. Today people concentrate in large measure on themselves, but Jesus' message was one of humility. It is not all about me; it is all about us!
Politicians and government workers also have a special responsibility to blaze a path toward Christ. Too often these days the airwaves are filled with stories of political corruption and graft. Those who have promised to serve the public good have found it more advantageous to serve themselves and a select few. Our democratically elected public servants must uphold the system upon which their position is based. In doing so they instill confidence in others and demonstrate the proper way to serve, not only the nation, but God as well. They become trailblazers in an important way.
Church officials also have a significant role in lighting the path that leads to God. Too often, because of position within the institution, church officials lose focus on what is their basic task. Pastors, priests, religious, and dedicated lay men and women who minister within the institutional church have a special responsibility to provide a path that is clear and uncluttered. Possibly more than any other group, it is the clergy and those who assist their efforts who are seen to be the pillars of justice and the paragons of hope. The trust and confidence of the people requires a proper response by the church.
John the Baptist did not impress people with his appearance, status, or monetary wealth. As a prophet he challenged his listeners with his words and backed them up with consistent actions that blazed a path toward Jesus. He was not cowed by others, even denouncing Herod for his illicit relationship with Herodias. He understood what Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free" (John 8:32). He knew what was right, and thus he went forth, regardless of the consequences. So too must we venture forth as contemporary prophets and disciples of the Lord.
The twentieth century has provided numerous examples of prophets who have blazed paths for others to follow. In India, Mahatma Gandhi, through a method of nonviolent resistance, led his people to throw off British Imperialism and bring freedom to the sub-continent and its peoples. In the 1960s, using similar tactics, Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke of the dream he had of a nation where people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. In the late 1970s, Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador heard the cry of the poor in his land and acted to bring hope and justice to a society dominated by wealth and power. Nelson Mandella and Bishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa provided the light to lead their nation out of the dark night of apartheid to a new light of freedom for all. Our history is replete with examples of contemporary prophets, but are we listening to their collective voice and finding the path they have blazed?
John the Baptist pointed the way to Jesus, serving as a prophet for the people of his day. Let us, in whatever capacity God has provided in our lives, do likewise. Let us be prophets who blaze a path to the Lord, both at Christmas and for eternal life.