Last Sunday, on the first Sunday of Advent, Jesus advised us to be alert and to be watchful. This Sunday, we hear from John the Baptist, who prepared the people to welcome the coming of Jesus, as Jesus begins his public ministry and his mission. John the Baptist was already very admired by the people; they trusted him as a prophet of holiness and integrity; they responded to his calls to repentance. But repentance does not just mean being sorry for what we have done in the past. Repentance is a call to change our ways and to be radically transformed and converted.
John provides us with an important lesson today: just as he prepared for the coming of Christ, we also need to prepare our hearts and our minds for Christ’s coming into the world. We prepare our lives for the coming of Christ at Christmas. We also prepare for his second coming. The second letter of Peter advises us that one day for the Lord could be like 1,000 years, so as we wait for the Lord to come again, what seems like a long time for us, is not so for the Lord. Yet, the coming of the Lord can come quickly as well, like a thief in the night. Thus, Peter tells us to live holy lives as we wait for the day of the Lord to come, to live our best so that the Lord will find us at peace. The Lord does not want us to live in anxiety or fear, but in joy and peace, having faith in his promise to us. So, we might ask ourselves: what changes is God calling us to make, not just now, but in the year to come. What kind of person is God calling us to be? What kind of person would God like us to be?
John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus to come into the lives of the people, to come into our lives. In the first reading today, Isaiah tells us to prepare the way of the Lord by filling in valleys, by smoothing out mountains and hills, and by making the rough country smooth. In these poetic words, Jesus is calling us to remove the obstacles that are keeping us from Jesus.
As Christ’s disciples, we give example to others in our words and our actions. So many of the people we know, perhaps the people we work with and members of our own family, face many obstacles in having a relationship with Jesus. What can we do to increase our faith and to bring others to Christ?
I have two suggestions for us to think about this week in light of John the Baptist’s message of repentance and preparing a way for the Lord. These also were discussed in the Ignite Your Parish Advent program that we are using. First, is to go to the sacrament of reconciliation during Advent. We don’t have our normal Advent Penance Service this year due to the pandemic, but we are having opportunities to go to this sacrament after any of the weekend Masses during Advent. This is a great way to prepare our hearts and our lives for the coming our Savior.
In addition, the Ignite Your Pastor program asked us to reflect upon whom we need to make space for in our hearts during this Advent season. It may be mending or forgiving a past hurt with a family member of friend, reaching out to someone who is hurting or in need, or being more understanding of that person who annoys you or gets on your nerves. In our humanity, I don’t that it would take long to think of one of or more people who fit in those categories in our lives. Reaching out to that person might be a good assignment this week. We continue these days of waiting and preparation during Advent. The important thing is to use them constructively.
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