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| Second Sunday of Advent |
| December 7, 2003 |
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| Gospel Reading according to Luke
3:1-6 |
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In the
fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius
Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of
Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and
Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during
the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the
desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet
Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: "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 made smooth, and all flesh shall see the
salvation of God." |
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| In
the rolling hills of Eastern Pennsylvania, lives a dedicated religious group of people
called the Amish. Their religion and culture is based on simplicity. They choose to live
without most of the modern conveniences of our world and with a life dedicated to God and
a healthy family home-life. |
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| One
day, an Amish man stopped his farming to watch a new neighbor move in. They were obviously
not Amish, as among the many items that came out of the delivery truck were a deluxe
refrigerator with a built-in ice maker, a state of the art stereo system with compact disc
drive, a remote controlled television with VCR, and a Whirlpool hot tub. |
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following day, the new resident was welcomed by the Amish man and his wife who brought a
gift of homemade bread. After the usual preliminary greeting and conversation, the Amish
man concluded with and if anything should go wrong with your appliances or equipment,
don't hesitate to call me. |
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very generous of you, the new arrival replied, thank you. I didn't realize you were a
repairman. Oh no, the Amish man responded, I'll just tell you how to live without them. |
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| John
the Baptist portrayed in today's gospel was a man who could live practically without
anything. He was a man whose whole life was about preparing the way for the Lord. He chose
to go about it by living a simple life out in the desert, without any material goods and
appliances of his time, without decent clothing, without sufficient amount of food. He
went from town to town, from village to village and he preached. And he preached one and
one message only: Prepare the way for the Lord. |
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is very appropriate that the Church selects the character of John the Baptist to lead us
into the season of Advent. The very purpose of Advent is to give us a chance to prepare
for Christmas when we celebrate Jesus' birth here on earth. The very purpose of John the
Baptist's life was to help others to prepare for the birth of Jesus here on earth. Who
better than John the Baptist to show us what we need to do to be ready when we will begin
celebrating God's coming to us as one of us. |
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| Prepare
the way for the Lord. Why do we need to undergo this constant and never-ending process of
preparation? Year after year we attempt to do the best we can to be ready for the
celebration of Christ's birth and year after year we find ourselves with the same problems
and questions as if we never moved forward spiritually, emotionally, or intellectually -
only the digits on our calendar seem to increase. There is one human condition that is
responsible for all this. It's our free will. The one thing that makes us different from
every other creature of this world, and perhaps from angels, is our freedom to choose good
and choose evil. And if you have not chosen evil this past year, not even once, you
perhaps don't even need to hear this. But I think I can make a pretty safe presumption
that every one of us has done something this past year we would not feel good bragging
about. And I'm sure that every one of us is still looking for ways to know more, know
better, to grow. If that's the case we should listen to what John the Baptist has to say
to us today. |
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| Prepare
the way for the Lord. These are the words I heard when I entered novitiate. Novitiate is
the first year in the seminary when you join a religious order. And that whole first year
is about getting to know the order you are entering and it's mission, it's about exploring
your vocation, and it's about preparing yourself to make a perpetual commitment as a
religious priest or brother. When I entered to become a Divine Word Missionary ten years
ago we were still wearing cassocks. To mark the beginning of this preparation period
we have this ritual during which we receive our cassocks as symbols of new life we are
about to start. And so during the ceremony the candidates stand lined up, all dressed up,
wearing nice suits, white shirts and ties. Right before we receive our cassocks the
presider goes to each candidate and cuts the tip of his tie off. That is to symbolize that
we leave our old ways behind and take on new ways. And on the one hand it was a very
painful experience because that was the coolest tie I ever had and it was cut it up right
in front of my eyes. But on the other hand it helped me realize that if I want to make a
serious commitment some definite changes in my life style will have to follow. |
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| That's
what John the Baptist is telling us today. That's what the Amish man tried to convey to
that city slicker who came with all his toys. It's time to look around and select what's
important and what's not so important. It's time to decide what's worth it and what has
less value. It's time to take a stand again for what matters most in our life and neglect
what doesn't. As a community of faith longing for it's Savior let's not miss this chance
and, let's take good looks around us, let us make the right decisions, let's prepare
ourselves, let's be ready for the big Celebration of the coming of our Lord. |
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| Advent homily by
Fr. Mark Kalwak, SVD |
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your Christmas
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