2nd Sunday of Advent
Cycle C
December 9, 2012 10:30am and 12 noon
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
Introducing John
Imagine
a person being introduced in this way:
“In the days when Mr. A was Secretary-General
of the United Nations, in Mr. B’s seventh year as President of the United
States, when Mrs. C was Governor of Maryland, and Mr. D was County Executive of
Harford County, in the fifth year of the pontificate of Pope E, and while
Archbishop F was Archbishop of Baltimore –
“A man named John felt God calling him. He began talking about repentance.”
This
gives us a sense of how Saint Luke is introducing John the Baptist in today’s
gospel. He wants us to know very
precisely where John fits in history.
And so,
Luke names the civil and religious leaders of the day. But, he makes absolutely no comment about
them.
Not Others but Us
In
fact, Luke could say some critical and negative things, but he does not.
Tiberius
Caesar, Pontius Pilate, and Herod are secular rulers leading a secular
government. But Luke does not blame all
the troubles of the world on them because they are not religious or spiritual
persons.
Annas
and Caiphas are not the best of religious leaders. But again, Luke does not bash them as being
too progressive or too reactionary or too wishy-washy.
Luke
just names them to get to his real point and that is John the Baptist and
us. John calls us, personally and
individually, to prepare for the coming of the One sent by God.
John
calls us to do this by dealing with the stuff in ourselves. He wants us to look at how we live and the
kind of persons we are.
This is
how to let the Lord be more fully alive in us, not by being negative about our
leaders or anyone else for that matter.
And to guide us in looking at ourselves, John uses images that some of the
prophets had used.
Preparing the Way of the Lord
First, John says, “Every valley shall be filled in.” Do we have a valley that comes from being
caught up in our culture of consumerism?
Is there an
emptiness in us that we try to fill by allowing mere desires to become
needs? This Advent, is there a valley we
really need to fill with God by being more reflective and prayerful in the
midst of all the busyness?
And then, John
says, “Every mountain shall be made low.” Do we have a mountain of rugged
individualism?
Do we live with
the attitude that we made it on our own and everyone else should be able to do
that too? This Advent, is there a
mountain we have to level by remembering that we are both individuals and part
of a community and that we have responsibility for ourselves and for the
community as well?
Next, John says, “The winding ways
shall be made straight.” Do we create
winding ways by pushing and twisting others to think or do things my way?
Are we so insistent on our way that we don’t really consider what this
does to those around us? This Advent, do
we need to straighten these ways by talking things through with others and
together arriving at something that we can all live with?
And finally, John says, “The rough
ways shall be made smooth.” Do we
have a roughness about us that both Saint Luke and John the Baptist avoid?
Are we caught up in blaming and bashing with angry and demeaning
words? This Advent, do we need to smooth
these ways by refraining from attacking and trying to understand things from
the perspective of others?
