Some two thousand years ago, John the Baptist called upon his Jewish compatriots to prepare themselves for the fulfilment of their vocation as God’s Chosen People, by preparing the way for the coming Messiah: a ‘Lamb-of-God’ Man recognized as such by John (son of the Virgin Mary’s elderly ‘kinswoman’ Elizabeth). John had recognized Jesus ‘instinctively’ when in his own mother’s womb; and later – having lived many years in the desert and become John the Baptist – he recognized Him again, this time by the prophetic grace of God, as the One born of the immaculate Virgin Mary of Nazareth, so revered by his own blessed mother Elizabeth and saintly father, Zechariah; now, John was to fulfil his own personal calling and his father’s prophecy by proclaiming Jesus as Christ the Lord, God, and Saviour of all mankind.
Today Mother Church recommends that we -- the faithful remnant of believers in Jesus’ offer of salvation -- carefully reconsider John’s inspired proclamation, because of its great significance for us who are now preparing to invite and welcome the same Lord, God, and Saviour, into our very own hearts and minds anew this Christmas.
Some
700 years before John, the prophet Isaiah had spoken of the messianic times to come
in Judah by evoking:
A
voice (that)
cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God Every valley shall
be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low. The uneven ground shall become
level, and the rough places a plain. And
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken”. (40:3-5)
For
our evangelist St. Luke, John the Baptist was that very voice crying in the
wilderness, and the greatest of all those born of woman, as Jesus Himself would
later declair. John taking up Isaiah’s prophecy, insisted that all those awaiting
the imminent coming of the Messiah had to do something to further
both the advent of the Messiah in their days, and in fulfilment of Isaiah’s
prophecy. And Mother Church, setting
Luke’s Gospel message before us today, suggests likewise that we -- each and
every one of us who believe in Jesus and desire His Advent blessing this year –
do something in accordance with John’s inspired proclamation, something that
we alone can and should do:
first, acknowledge with sincere sorrow our own personal sins, and accompany
that by fruits expressive of such repentance,
above all, however, by awaiting the Coming One with hearts full of gratitude, eager to receive and embrace
Him as the Only-begotten Son of God, sublimely gifted to us, as One of us,
the very Lamb of God, Jesus Who alone can enable
us to fulfil our divine calling and live as truly adopted children of God, and Jesus’
own brothers and sisters.
It
is so easy for still-faithfully-practicing Catholics in these modern times of popular
faithlessness and rank-and-file betrayal of Jesus, to settle down, limiting
themselves to holding firmly to the Faith they were originally taught, taking
care they do not betray or fall short of it.
In fact, however, Mother Church -- as she prepares to suitably welcome
Jesus, the Prince of Peace and Light of the World -- is being called to witness
a renewal of her living faith and loving witness by refreshed lives this Christmas.
She needs her children to show authentic joy by growth in that Faith
and deepening of that love – our grateful love – meant to enwrap
it: embracing and reviving the love of so many martyrs, confessors, and fellow
faithful Catholics who have treasured and handed the Faith down to us over
centuries.
Devout
Catholics are regular in their observance of Sundays and holydays, and they intend
to receive the sacraments well. However,
though they do these things regularly, which is good, they can also tend to do
them routinely, which is not quite so good.
For, having routinely done these practices, they then tend to wait for
the Lord. They do not often think to
undertake un-burdensome heart-and-mind approaches, which are not things
that can be called duties, but are endeavours to respond to God’s secret invitation, to answer God’s
Personal call being made to them individually, personally.
Too
many Catholic disciples of Jesus hear Mother Church calling them in the name of
God, from without themselves, but they do not seem to hear God
Himself whispering within
themselves, from within that secret and most holy sanctuary which is their own soul. Thus, they confine themselves to mediocrity:
because they are, in fact, coming to a halt, settling for obligations and duties
-- long known and recognized -- faithfully observed each and every year, but going
no further, no deeper. Now such a ‘coming to a halt’, at whatever level, is mediocrity
for one called to allow the Holy Spirit to lead him or her throughout their life to become more like Jesus, ever more
truly a child of God.
Dear
fellow disciples of Jesus, God the Father Who first called you to Jesus is still calling you to Jesus by the Holy Spirit Who wants to lead you further along the way of Jesus that
He might bestow on you what He, God,
wants and plans FOR YOU.
Paul
was very proud of his converts in Philippi and he acknowledged that not only
were they indebted to himself, but that he too was indebted to them for the
assistance they had given him in his need.
He prayed for them as special friends:
It
is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all
discernment. (1:9)
Now,
that should be the programme for all of us: for our love can abound more
and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
Now, don’t immediately think that is not for you, that you can’t do that! Of course you can’t!! But God can
and He does want to do it for you, to bring it about in you. You might not, indeed, be the reading, the
studious, type, you might not be a particularly deep thinker, but that does not
exclude you from taking up God’s invitation: because it is a special invitation
to you from Him Who knows you best of all; it is an invitation to lead you to
the fullness of your vocation, to give
Jesus all your love, in your uniquely personal way. If you are not a reader, not a deep thinker,
O.K., don’t feel any need to force yourself into periods of tedious and
fruitless study or reading. Do what you
do best. Perhaps you like to be with
people rather than with books: try, then, to do your best to be with Jesus
more. I don’t necessarily mean kneeling
in Church, you might have too many duties and tasks for that: then, just try to
be more with Him in your mind and heart using such words as, “I thank You, I
trust You, I love You” meaningfully, just as you are naturally so often
with your children or your grandchildren in your mind and heart. If your life seems burdened with other
people’s troubles, then understand this: worrying is no part of a
Christian vocation, it is a devil’s deceit! Some people find they can’t keep their
attention on prayers which tend to become just empty words: they might however,
find great peace in just being in Jesus’ presence in the Church without saying
anything: content and happy simply to know that He is there and they are in His
presence. I can’t go through all the
ways of deepening love for Jesus here, that is spiritual direction, much
ignored today; but be quite sure of this, you ARE invited, called, urged by God the Father, Who wants to help
your love for Jesus, His Son, to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of
insight: not knowledge of facts or insight into problems, but personal
knowledge, awareness, appreciation, of the Person of Jesus, that is,
understanding of, and empathy with, commitment to, love for, Him. Such knowledge and insight will enable you to
grow just as Paul wanted his beloved Philippians to grow:
That
you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of
Christ. (1:10)
Some
people, even some good Catholics and Christians, try to set good works for
others at variance with oneness with Jesus.
They tend to think that they
ought to be doing something for
Jesus, some good work, some visible, tangible, work that helps to free at least
one corner of the world from its overwhelming burden of suffering and sin: work
of that nature, they feel, is much better than just ‘becoming holy’.
Of
course, when they put it in that way to themselves, they are loading the dice
for their own purposes, because, comparing supposedly generous works for others
with the implied selfishness of oneself trying to become holy before God is
totally wrong. True holiness is the most
unselfish state possible, it is
entirely God centred: true holiness
is love of God that will lead to total forgetfulness of self, and such
self-sacrifice in the likeness of Jesus, is only authentic and true when it is
a spontaneously free gift, brought about indeed by the Holy Spirit, but
allowed, accepted, embraced, and whole-heartedly followed, by the recipient. Such
holiness is most un-common and no easy
option. True holiness, it was, that
sustained the early martyrs suffering persecution under the Roman Empire; and
still today continues to manifest itself in the lives of those enduring and dying
for Jesus under modern fanatical or totalitarian regimes, or those saddened and
oppressed by their own compatriots’ rejection of Jesus’ demanding love, for
easier and more pleasing worldly and/or fleshly options (2 Timothy 4:3–4):
The
time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but, having itching
ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the
truth.
God
can always find many people to do things for Him; for many there are, who will do good things for motives such
as self-approval or public appreciation; frequently, the very relief of working
at something that occupies their mind and distracts their heart is enough for
them. Indeed, there are those to be
found, as St. Paul himself experienced who will even do good things for evil
reasons:
Some
indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, thinking to afflict me in my
imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence
or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. (Philippians
1:15–18),
Even now there are a
number of people who will do good things for Jesus, but those who want to love
Jesus Himself are much rarer ‘birds';
Therefore,
let us turn back to our second reading where St. Paul spoke (1:5) to the
Philippians of:
Their partnership (with
him) in
the gospel from the first day until now.
In
that spirit of loving appreciation and gratitude he prayed most especially that:
(Their)
love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment.
Dear
People of God, our fellowship St.
Paul with in proclaiming Christ
in today’s hostile world requires that work of us which he so persuasively
urged his friends at Philippi to undertake in all confidence. It is, precisely, our essential part in the
missionary work of Mother Church today; and ultimately, only such a partnership
of the whole faithful Christian people in the Church’s proclamation of the
Gospel will lead to the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy:
All flesh shall see the salvation of God. (Luke 3:6)
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