As we
enter our 2nd week of Advent, we are in the midst of our preparation for the
coming of Christ. Last
week, in the Gospel for the first Sunday of Advent, Jesus himself told us to
await his arrival with vigilance and prayer. Today,
the voice of John the Baptist cries out in the desert. The
Gospel tells of the powerful Roman leaders of the region, of Caesar and the
Roman governor and tetrarchs, of the high priests of the Temple, but they're
not the ones who announce and prepare the way of the Lord. Rather, the one who prepares the path for the coming of the Messiah is an
eccentric prophet.
As we
actively wait during Advent, undertaking special prayers and devotions, John the Baptist’s voice cries out in the
desert wilderness, but the desert is more than just the location where his
public ministry took place. We
modern Americans might think of the desert as arid and desolate, but in the
eyes of the Hebrew prophets, the desert was the place where the Israelites
first encountered God and where they faithfully responded on their way to the
promised land. John
the Baptist calls Israel to return to this metaphorical desert, to return to
faithfulness, to respond to God's grace as it had done long ago. The
people of Ancient Israel would have remembered how God led their ancestors out
of Egypt into the desert on their way to the promised land, how their ancestors
responded to God’s call in the reality of their lives.
John
the Baptist prepares us for the coming of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the
promised Messiah, but there is so much going on in our world that points us in a direction that is anything but peace. Intolerance, anger, and violence seems to be crying out to us in the world,
rather than peace, justice, and salvation. Our
Church leaders will call us to practice works of mercy and to be merciful like
God the Father as week start our Jubilee Year of Mercy in just a few days, but
then in the last several weeks we hear of a shooting at a Planned Parenthood
clinic in Colorado, of a terrorist attack in Paris where 130 were killed in
restaurants and a sports stadium and a concert venue, and of 14 people killed
at a shooting at a regional health center in southern California. There were so
many innocent lives lost in these acts of senseless violence. Pope
Francis sees these acts of violence and terrorism as acts against the Gospel of
Life that Jesus preached, as acts that are against human dignity. The
Pope reiterated what our faith teaches, that “the path of violence and hatred
does not resolve the problems of humanity.” After
the attacks in France, the Archbishop of Paris cautioned the faithful not
to indulge “in panic or hatred”, to
continue in the path of “moderation, temperance and control.” All
of this shows us what an important message the Year of Mercy will bring to our
world, message that will help us to approach all that is going on in our world
today that scares us and shocks us and saddens us. As
Pope Francis states in the Joy of the Gospel: In our faith we are connected to
community, to service, and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters, as to
called by the Son of God, who by becoming flesh, called us to a revolution to
tenderness. In
response to this violence, our Church leaders call us to pray, to reject
hatred, to condemn evil, and to work in solidarity with the international
community. What
is going on in the media right now in condemning Christians who offer prayers
for the victims of these acts of terrorism show how hostile our secular world has
become to Christianity. Remember that
our prayers are not giving in isolation
- our Church leaders and many of the faithful are involved in efforts to
reach out to others and to do something.
We are just idly sitting back and praying. But we do believe in the power of prayer, no
matter how others mock us and criticize us. Many of our parishioners have asked that we
do pray at mass specifically for a conversion of the hearts of the terrorists
and against the violence that is going on in our world right now. So we will end our homily today with a prayer
as we prepare today for the coming of the Prince of Peace. Let us pray:
Compassionate God,
Father of all,
we are horrified at
violence in many parts of our world.
It seems that no one
is safe,
and so many in our
world are terrified at what is going on.
Hold back the hands
that kill and maim;
turn around the
hearts that hate,
convert those lives
that turn to violence and terrorism.
Grant instead your
Spirit of Peace -
a peace that passes
our understanding
but a peace that
changes lives.
Grant, we pray, a
conversion of those who are religious extremists,
those members of
ISIS and Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations
who are terrorizing
our world.
We ask this through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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