These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. (1 Cor 2:1-5)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082922.cfm
As the liturgy says, “You choose the weak and make them strong in bearing witness to You, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The Passion of John the Baptist prefigures the Passion of Jesus. As the one who prepares the way of the Lord, Saint John the Baptist prepares that way even by his death.