2nd Sunday of Advent Year B 2014:
Last
week we began the season of Advent. I
tried to focus on joy. Advent is a
season of Joy because it is a chance for us to renew our conviction that Jesus
came to us 2000 years ago, but also that Jesus is coming again. As we say after the Our Father: as we await
the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus is coming, we want to see him. We know he will put an end to death,
sickness, sin, sadness, grief, and pain.
His kingdom will have no end, come Lord Jesus.
So,
while last week we renewed our Joy at the proclamation of Christ’s coming. This week we our message is pretty clear from
our first reading and from the gospel: prepare the way for the Lord. It is not simply enough to be excited about
the coming of Jesus, we have to prepare a path for him in our lives. This is where our life of faith goes from
something that lives largely in our minds or hearts to become something that
actually changes the way we live, the way we act, the way we see the
world. Preparing the way for the Lord
means that faith becomes more than just an idea, it becomes a way of life, an
experience.
As I
mentioned last week, Advent is called a joyful and devout season of
expectation. I think that word “devout”
does a good job of capturing just what I’m talking about. Being devout, I think, means more than simply
holding an idea, it goes to how one lives his/her life. We use the word “devoted” for many kinds of
circumstances. Sure, someone could be
devoted to religion, but we also talk about devoted teachers, devote
coaches. We might even talk about
someone being a devoted IU basketball fan.
What makes a person devoted? I
think it is all the little things. A
devoted teacher puts in extra hours preparing her lessons. A devoted coach spends extra time with his
team trying to build chemistry. A
devoted fireman puts his life in harm’s way for the good of others. Every teacher teaches his/her subject, but
the for the devoted teacher, teaching is not just a job, it’s a way of life, a
vocation. It seems to me that someone
who is devoted excels in not just the big things, but in all the little
things. The concrete, daily commitment
shows a person’s devotion.
Now
let’s take that and apply it to our message today: prepare the way for the
Lord. I think this means that God is
asking us to be devoted to him. Being
devoted to Christ means that he is important when we come here to Mass every
week, but also every day of our lives.
Christ is important in the big things, but he is also important in our
day to day existence. Being a devoted
follower of Christ, I think, means to be committed to him in a concrete and
daily way. Preparing the way for the
Lord means that our faith changes the way we live.
Look at
John the Baptist, he was out in the desert eating locusts and honey, clothed in
camel hair. We might think: wow, a
little extreme there. But what an
example of devotion. John the Baptist
did not try to fit God into his life; rather, John found that with God in his
life he didn’t have room for anything else.
His example might be extreme, but we too are called to be devoted, to
prepare room in our lives for the Lord.
Let’s
think of some concrete ways that we can prepare the way for the Lord in our own
lives during this season of Advent.
First, of course, prayer. Pray
every day, ask God to show you how to make straight your paths, how to prepare
room for the Lord. Maybe during this
season of Advent, make a point to experience God more often in the Mass. Here at St. Jude we added a 6:00 PM mass on
Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. Maybe
make an effort to come to Mass one extra day a week as a way of letting Christ
more into your life. Make a point to go
to confession. Advent is a wonderful
season of Grace, especially as a time to see where our paths haven’t been so
straight, where we need to beg God for mercy and healing. Perhaps start a family Advent devotion. If you don’t have an advent wreath at your
house, maybe go out and get one. Every
night at dinner light the candles and pray as a family for the coming of
Christ. Maybe pick up the habit of a
daily rosary, the joyful mysteries are so powerful this time of year. Visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
chapel. He came to us, we can come to
him there in the chapel.
I know
this is a busy time of year. I find it
especially difficult to prepare the way for the Lord. Maybe that’s why the season of Advent is such
a good reminder from the Church.
Especially when we are busy, we might need to try a bit harder to be people
of devotion. As we celebrate this Mass,
we prepare a place in our hearts for the coming of Christ, at Christmas, at the
end of time, and right here as he comes to us in this Blessed Sacrament.
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