Readings: Is 40:1-5,9-11; Ps 85; 2 Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8
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Can’t you just picture John
shouting these words, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins? It’s a message that resounds today as we prepare for the coming of
Jesus, as we struggle through this most unusual of Advents, masked and isolated,
forced along paths that seem far from straight. But the question remains: How
and what are we to prepare? Quite simply, we are called on to prepare
ourselves through conversion.
A few moments ago, Father Nielson, praying today’s Collect for all of us
gathered here today, asked God to “let no earthly undertaking hinder those
who set out in haste to meet your Son.” This is how we make straight the
Lord’s path – by removing the obstacles that we, in our sinfulness, place in
His way.
The trouble is, when we pray these words, do we truly mean them? Or are
we like the Christian that C. S. Lewis described as praying faintly – for
otherwise God might actually hear him.
“Let no earthly undertaking hinder” us.
For most of us, these undertakings, these obstacles, represent the habits
of a lifetime, and are very much a part of our nature. To remove them is almost
unnatural. It’s not natural to be selfless when our human nature is basically
selfish. It’s not natural to love God and our neighbor when love of self keeps getting
in the way. It’s not natural to step out of our busy lives, away from those “earthly
undertakings” and listen to God’s voice as He calls on us to change our way
of life, as He calls us to conversion. For this is what Advent is: a call to
conversion, a call to change.
Today, from across the centuries, John the Baptist gives us some
down-to-earth advice on how to respond to God’s call.
Make straight His paths…[Mk 1:3]
John tells us to fill in the valleys – those dark nooks and crannies of
our lives that we foolishly try to seal off from God. These are the dark
corners that we don’t want disturbed, that we think will keep God at bay. We
all have some darkness in our lives because we’re all sinners. And only light
dispels darkness, the light of God’s love.
John tells us to level the
mountains – mountains of pride, of bigotry, of anger that we build up because
we think so much of ourselves and so little of others. To profess that we love
God while remaining indifferent to the plight of others is a contradiction.
Advent, indeed, every season, demands humility. How can we have a
personal relationship with God if our egos compete with Him? To accept the
Kingdom we must realize we’re neither king nor queen. Shed the old. To experience
what’s possible with God, forget that which is humanly impossible.
What in our lives needs conversion? What obstacles have we placed in
God’s path? What mountains and hills do we erect in a vain attempts to prevent
him from coming close. Prepare the way of the Lord…by making room for God in your hearts.
Every Sunday we recite the Creed in a renewal of our faith because
discipleship demands faith. But it demands a living faith, one that goes out
into the world to proclaim the Good News [Mk 16:15]. It demands listening to God’s
Word and acting on it by changing our lives.
Christ cannot save us without our cooperation. He makes His Presence
known but waits to be invited. As Peter reminds us in today’s 2nd
reading [2 Pt 3:9], our merciful Father wants no one to perish, for He is patient
with us, allowing us time to come back to Him. Yes, for us who live in time,
every day is an opportunity, every moment of life is a gift of God’s mercy.
Advent is really the story of God’s
own eternal persistent waiting, of His plan to let us search for Him again and
again until finally He finds us. Until finally we turn to Him and say, “Yes!”
Of course, wanting to change and actually changing are very different
things. Because conversion comes only through love – not love as an emotion but
love as a decision, for we must be imitators of God. From the beginning God
acted totally out of love – the love that created the universe, that moves the
sun and the stars, a love that reaches out to move our hearts as well, to bring
us to salvation. And the great sign of God’s will to save, the great sign of
His love, is His Son, Jesus Christ.
God reaches out to us in Christ. “Here is your God,” Isaiah proclaims in
today’s 1st reading. “He comes with power…Like a shepherd he
feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs” [Is 40:9-11].
This is the saving power of Christ, God’s love personified.
“The Lord does not delay” [2 Pt 3:9], Peter tells
us in our 2nd reading. The day of salvation has already dawned in
Christ.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” [Mk 1:8], says John the Baptist. And this Spirit, once given in Christ,
is the constant renewal of the Father’s love.
When we invite Jesus into our lives, when we make room for Him in our
hearts, we become like John the Baptist.
Our lives become an announcement,
telling everyone, through acts of kindness, honesty, and faithfulness, that
Christ is among us.
For many people, those you know, those you encounter, you might be the
only manifestation of that Gospel they ever experience.
Never tire of proclaiming the Kingdom.
As we await Jesus’ return and the age to come, let us not forget that a
day will come in each of our lives when we will meet Jesus face to face.
Our life is a continual advent for that moment, so let’s not delay
preparing for this coming of the Lord.
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