The two great images of Advent are St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Mother. In our first reading today, we hear Isaiah speaking of the one who would be a voice crying out, “In the desert prepare the way of the Lord. May straight in the wasteland a highway for our God.”
In the Gospel, St. Mark will make it clear that this passage refers to John the Baptist. “Behold I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord and make straight His paths.’”