2nd. Sunday of Advent (C)
(Baruch
5:1-9; Philippians 1:3-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6)
John the Baptist called upon the Jews to
prepare for the first coming of the Lord, and Mother Church recommends that we
carefully consider his proclamation because it is of great significance for us her
children, who, by our Advent discipline and devotion, are preparing to welcome
the Lord into our hearts and minds anew this Christmas, both in anticipation of
the welcome we would want to give Him at His second coming in glory, and also that
we might be enabled here and now to better prepare ourselves and our world for
that coming.
Isaiah – whose message the prophet
Baruch echoed in our first reading -- had said of the times immediately before
the coming of the Messiah:
The voice of one crying in
the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, every mountain
and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough
ways smooth.
For St. Luke, John’s was that
voice crying in the wilderness who, taking up the prophecy of Isaiah, had insisted
that each and every one of us has something positive and, for ourselves essential,
for the fulfilment of that prophecy; something that we can and should do. We are not to be passive, waiting for,
expecting, God to do everything; on the contrary, we must work for the
remission of our sins before the Lord, by sincerely repenting of them and by bringing
forth fruits worthy of such repentance, fruits giving right expression to our hopes
thus firmly set on the Coming One.
John the Baptist is still relevant
for us today, his message is still valid and of the utmost importance if we
would prepare well this Advent; therefore it behoves us to recall to our minds
and take to our hearts these words of him sent by God for the ultimate
preparation of His people for the coming of their Saviour and Lord.
It is common among
practicing Catholics to more or less forget about the obligation to prepare the
way for the Lord in their own hearts and minds as they tend to become
settled in their ways and perhaps a little stagnant in their aspirations over
the years. Many are content to limit
themselves to taking care, being supremely concerned, that they ‘keep the
Faith’, that they do not fall away from the truth they have long acknowledged
and appreciated. However, since Jesus
the Prince of Peace and Light of the World, intends to come anew into our lives this, and every,
Christmas, they should be prepared and indeed, most earnestly desire, in their
loving welcome for Him, to grow in their Catholic Faith by responding to
the purpose of His Coming. These
disciples of Jesus are regular in their observance of Sundays and holydays, and
they take care to receive the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, frequently. However, though they do these things
regularly, which is good, the danger is for them to do them routinely, which is
not so good; for, having done these practices, which they often call duties --
duties which can be counted and ticked off as having been done for this week or
for this month -- they then attend to the world rather than watch and wait for
the Lord. They do not often think to
undertake other, perhaps more interior -- even ‘one to One’ -- practices which
are, most certainly, not such that can be called duties, since they are endeavours
to respond to God’s secret invitation, to answer God’s Own loving call, made to
them personally and indeed uniquely.
In the realm of nature think
of the words of Scripture:
How I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. (Exodus
19:4)
Previous to such ‘salvation’,
the eaglet -- clinging to some ledge on a high cliff -- had to hear, recognize,
and totally trust its mother’s call before throwing itself off the ledge into
the void, so that its mother could then swoop down and catch it on her
shoulders and take it with her back on high for further practice and ultimate
perfection. Think also of the chicks of
the ancient murrelet, scarce two days old, drawn out from their shelter (at night for safety!), even
just out of their egg shells, by an unseen voice, to
scramble over rocks and -- avoiding predators --- rush into the shallows of
hitherto unknown waters, waters getting deeper and deeper until they find
themselves on the mighty sea itself, still following a voice only, before they
suddenly meet their mother for the first time, as she comes toward them still calling
but now offering welcome and love, safety and fulfilment.
So many Catholics hear the
Church calling them from without themselves, but do not seem able to recognize,
hear, and understand, God whispering within themselves, speaking to them in
that secret place which is their soul.
In that way they confine themselves to relative mediocrity: because they
are, in fact, grinding to a halt on that divinely planned journey which can
only reach its ultimate target and attain fulfilment by their perseverance in following
God’s call to advance ever further. Coming
to a halt after ‘duties done’, is mediocrity for one called by the Holy
Spirit to become more and more like Jesus, ever more one with Him; and in Him,
ever more truly, a child of God. Observers
might think highly and speak well of such persons, because they have
maintained, apparently remained at, a relatively high level in comparison with
others. But that’s just it, God doesn’t
compare one with another; if you stop, at whatever level, you will begin to
stagnate, and that is, for you -- in the eyes of God the Father Who is
calling you and the Holy Spirit Who wants to lead further along the way in
answer to that call -- settling for mediocrity, settling for something much
less than God wants of you, for you.
We are called, invited,
urged, by the Father, to continually prepare the way for His Beloved Son to
come into our lives more and more as the years go by, but certain good people would
wish to excuse themselves from answering such an invitation because such
holiness, saintly holiness so to speak, involves a degree of selflessness which
they find frightening; they insist it is not for them, they can’t do it.
In one sense they are
perfectly correct, because no one can do
it! Human beings cannot make
themselves holy by doing some special practices, this penance, or that devotion.
Some will try, but, being motivated by the desire not only to become holy but
also to be seen by themselves and perhaps appreciated by others as holy, they
achieve merely a sham holiness, something which, if backed up with pride and
ambition, is indeed an abomination before God.
Real, true, holiness,
however, is God’s gift, not a human acquisition. We have to want, hope and pray to be, to
become, what God wants for us, and in that way we help to prepare ourselves to
receive God’s gift. But you know, it is
not really good to want to be holy in the sense of wanting something for
yourself, for that can so easily deteriorate into selfishness. It is far, far better to be centred on God,
wanting to love the Father to the utmost of your being, with your whole mind,
heart, soul, and strength, in Jesus.
Only the Holy Spirit can bring this about and that is why such holiness,
such love of God, is God’s most gracious
gift: and it is a gift given only to those who prepare the way for the Lord;
who patiently open themselves up to His secret working within them, by attending
(a spiritual watching and waiting), desiring, and praying, for this supreme
blessing, which is the gift of love, ultimately total love, of God.
Paul was very proud of his
converts in Philippi and he acknowledged that not only were they indebted to
him, but that he too was indebted to them for the assistance they had given him
in his many needs. He prayed for them as
special friends:
And this I pray: that your
love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.
Now, that should be the
programme for all of us: our love can abound more and more in knowledge and
depth of discernment and insight. Don’t
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
according to your measure, to bring it about in you, the real and truest you.
You might not, indeed, be the reading, the studious, type, you might not
be a deep thinker, but that does not exclude you from taking up God’s open invitation:
it is indeed an open invitation to all His children, but to you, it is a
special invitation, a unique 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 the need to force yourself into long 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: just as you are so often with your
children or your grandchildren in your mind and heart; if your life seems
burdened with other people’s troubles, then mention those troubles to Jesus,
ask His help, ask Him to bless those in need.
Some find they can’t keep their attention on prayers which tend to
become just empty words, and among them, some might indeed find great peace in
just being in Jesus’ presence in the Church without saying anything: just
content and happy 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, but be quite sure of this, you are invited, called,
urged by God the Father, to help in the development of 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 of Jesus, that is,
understanding of, and empathy with, Jesus.
Knowledge and insight of this sort will enable you to grow just as St.
Paul wanted his beloved Philippians to grow:
That you may approve the
things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offence till the
day of Christ.
At times, even some good
Catholics, try to set good works for others at variance with, or as a
substitute for, deep personal holiness, oneness with Jesus. They
tend to think that they ought to be doing something for Jesus, some good work, some public, 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 works for others with the implied selfishness of trying to
become holy is totally wrong. God can
find many people to do things for Him; for many there are who will do good
things for motives that are not quite so good: such as self-approval or public
appreciation; and frequently indeed, the very joy of working at something that
occupies the mind and distracts the heart is more than enough for those easily
oppressed by the hum-drum and uncertainty of daily life.
True holiness, on the other
hand, is the most unselfish state possible -- which is why, as I mentioned
earlier, the prospect of it frightens some -- being entirely God-centred. True holiness is love of God that leads to
total forgetfulness of self; and such self-sacrifice in the footsteps 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 not common or easy. 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.
Therefore, let us turn back
to our second reading wherein St. Paul spoke to the Philippians of their:
fellowship (with him) in the
gospel from the first day until now.
That work of letting:
love
abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.
which St. Paul urged them so
strongly to undertake, is precisely our fellowship with him in propagation
of the Gospel, our part in the eternal missionary work of the Church; and
ultimately, it is only such a partnership of the whole Christian people in the
Church’s proclamation of the Gospel will lead to the fulfilment of Isaiah’s
prophecy that:
All flesh shall see the
salvation of God.
