Advent Reflection on John the Baptist

The Church is like John the Baptizer; it’s like the body of Jesus. The body of Jesus had to die for the coming of the Kingdom; John the Baptizer had to point beyond himself to the Kingdom. The Church is not an end in itself; the Church is a means. The Kingdom is the end. And whenever we make the means into the end, we have created an idol. It is the major sin in the Bible—maybe the only one. (Richard Rohr, OFM)