I dag er evangeliene i den nye og den gamle messen nesten like; i den nye messen hører vi fra Joh 1,6-8.19-28, i den gamle messen Joh 1:19-28. Og slik leste jeg om dette evangeliet i dagens matutinbønn:
Joh 1:19-28
In that time sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to John, to ask him: Who art thou? … (And so on.)Homily by Pope St Gregory (the Great) – 7th on the Gospels.
Dearly beloved brethren, the first thing which striketh us in to – day’s Gospel is the lowly – mindedness of John. He was so great that it was thought he might be the Christ; yet he soberly chose rather to seem only what he really was, than to let the belief of men invest him with a dignity which did not belong to him; for he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ, at the same time he would not deny what he was in reality; and thus his very truth – speaking made him a member of Him Whose title he would not by falsehood take. In that he arrogated not to himself the name of Christ, he became a member of Christ. While he humbly strove to confess his own weakness, he earned by his simplicity a part in the grandeur of his Master.