Second Sunday of Advent (C); 12-05-2021

Bar 5:1-9.  Ps 126.  Phil 1:4-6,8-11.  Lk 3:1-6

Deacon Jim McFadden

         After encountering the signs and wonders of the coming of Immanuel, Luke is going to call the community to a deeper level of conversion and surrender and he does this through the transitional figure of John the Baptist.  John represents and earnest and heroic stage of the journey into the mystery of God.  John the Baptist is a necessary beginning to conversion: it’s important to remember that before we can embrace the Good News of Immanuel, we have to come to terms with John’s gospel of repentance.  In short, repentance is the first necessary step of entering the Kingdom of God.

            At this juncture, some may want to hit the “pause” button:  “why do we have to convert?  Isn’t conversion about an atheist who becomes a believer or a vice-filled sinner who becomes virtuous?  I mean, we really don’t need it, do we?  We go to Mass regularly, play by the rules, support the parish, etc.  Isn’t that enough?  Sorry, deacon, we really don’t need conversion.”

            But, that’s part of the problem.  Because of this presumption—that we are practicing Catholics, that everyone is reasonably good, that we’re basically okay—we can shield ourselves from the need to convert.  In short, we create barricades around our imperial ego wherein we remain in control under religious guise.

            Why do we do this?  Ernest Becker (Denial of Death) said that we all build a stage that we can comfortably move about: it just big enough that we can perform and do our thing, where we are in charge.  We refuse to be on a stage where we can’t be a success; where we can’t have respect and admiration.  We circumscribe our ego with barricades where we can be secure.  We do not leave our self-imposed stages, and whenever we think of leaving it, we become afraid.  That’s why we resist conversion and convince ourselves that we don’t need it.

            But, then in today’s Gospel we have the disconcerting figure of John the Baptist who’s telling us that we’re not all right.  More to it, we must embrace conversion so that we can take on the mind of Christ.  Luke says that “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert” (Lk 3:2b). The “word of God” did not come to the high and mighty, the rich and successful; no, the Word of God came to the outsider in the desert. 

            And, he still does; the  voice of John the Baptist  cries  out today in the deserts of humanity.  What are those contemporary deserts?-closed minds and hardened hearts that cling to their barricades.   His voice challenges us to ask ourselves am I actually following the Way of Jesus or am I just living out my own agenda.  Am I living the life according to the Good News or am I following the seductive path of secular culture?  Today, John is admonishing us with the words of the prophet Isaiah,

            “Prepare the way of the Lord,

                       Make straight his paths.

            Every valley shall be filled

                        and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

            The winding roads shall be made straight,

                        and the rough ways smooth,

            and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (vs. 4-6)

            What’s he saying?  He’s saying that his job is to prepare for the mighty coming of the Lord.  His job is to build the highway that will facilitate his arrival. A change is coming; a revolution is on its way in which we relinquish our old consciousness and take on the Mind of Christ. John is pressing us to open our mind and heart to receive the salvation that God offers us every moment of our existence.  But, to do this we have to let go of our slavery to sin in which we operate from that safe, secure, comfortable stage that we’ve created for ourselves that keeps us in, but God out.

            How do we know that conversion is taking place—that the Lord Jesus has changed our lives? When we are genuinely participating in the life of Christ, we will feel a passion to make him known to others; we will be compelled to share the Good News, the wonders of Trinitarian love with those we encounter at work, at school, wherever people gather.  If we look around us, we will see people who would be willing to begin –or begin again—a journey of faith if they encountered Christians who were on fire with the Lord’s presence; who were simply in love with Jesus.  Can’t we be these Christians?  But, we first have to ask ourselves: “Am I truly in love with Jesus.  Is his love worth more than my physical life?  Am I convinced that he is the Way to salvation?”  And, brothers and sisters, if we are in love with Jesus, we have to make him known!  But, we can’t be shy; we need to be courageous: to lay low the mountains of self-centeredness and rivalry with others; we need to fill in the ravines dug by indifference and apathy; we need to make straight the paths of our laziness, compromises, and accommodation to our individualist culture. 

            People of God, let us embrace repentance  this Advent.  Let us tear down the barricades and obstacles that impede our conversion, that is, our journey toward the encounter with the Lord Jesus.  He alone, can fulfil all the hopes of men and women, young and old.  Let us ask the Virgin Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, who is our Mother, to  show us how to do this.  Amen.