When we are in touch with our spiritual center, Advent waiting is characterized by joy and not impatience and by hope rather than anxiety.

Second Sunday of Advent A  2019

We light the second candle of the Advent season today.  The countdown to Christmas is moving on.  The media, and especially advertisements, remind us constantly that the time is drawing short.  Of course, the reminder is too often in terms of how many shopping days till Christmas.

Today’s Scripture readings give us a different point of view.  “John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’  It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:  A voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

John’s message is direct and to the point.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Repentance is a fundamental change of heart that results in abandoning sin and embracing God’s freely shared life and love.  John the Baptist had no trouble preaching about the reality of sin in our lives. 

To us who are still searching for the deepest truths of our lives, John the Baptist speaks to our spiritual journey.

Before we fast forward to the joy of Christmas, we need to repent.  Coming to terms with the gravity of our sinfulness and our need for repentance can be enlightening and life giving.  There is a school of thought that would like us to forget about the reality and even the possibility of sin.   John the Baptist did not belong to this school of thought.  John’s preaching challenged us to confront the demons of our lives.

We need to more aware of the wilderness that is in our lives and in our world.   We need to repent of all that keeps us from placing God at the center of our lives and in this Advent season we need to find our way back to God. 

The repentance we seek is a fundamental change of heart which results in leaving sin behind and embracing God’s freely shared life and love.  The prophet Isaiah promises that the Savior will usher in a new era of relationships.  Then the wolf shall be the guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together…There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain.  Woody Allen’s comment to this was:  The lamb and the wolf shall lie down together – but the lamb won’t get any sleep.’’

Could it be that we make this season so hectic that we haven’t got time to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ.  It is the spiritual wilderness that we live in -- a wilderness in which the spiritual dimension is too far underground.

May we use the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a way of letting go of the sinfulness of our lives, of experiencing repentance, of turning away from sinfulness?

Legend has it that there was an island in the Pacific Ocean with a monastery in which there were 1000 bells that produced the most beautiful sound on the face of the earth.  Regrettably there was a volcano sank the island into the ocean and the monastery with its beautiful bells ended up on the bottom on the ocean.

Legend has it that you could visit the neighboring island and if you listened very carefully, you could still hear the sound of the monastery’s bells.  So this adventuresome gentleman went on a two week vacation to this island with the hope of being able to hear the sound of the bells of the monastery.

So he went to the edge of the island at sunrise to listen for the bells.  But all he could hear was noise -- noise from the birds, noise of the ocean’s waves, and the noise of the strong winds.  For two weeks, each day he tried in vain to hear the bells of the monastery.  He was confronted by the distractions of the birds, the wind, and the waves.  At the end of the two weeks, just before he was to leave, he went to the edge of the island to say goodbye to the birds and to the ocean.  In saying goodbye, he listened to the sound of the birds rather than seeing them as a distraction.  Then something happened.  As he listened with a spirit of openness to the sound of the birds, he heard the sound of the first bell.  As he listened for the sound of the waves, he heard the sound of the second bell.  As he listened for the wind, he heard the third bell and then he heard the sound of all 1000 bells and the monastery became alive again.

The message here when we notice the beauty of all that is around us, we will come to be aware of our spiritual center.  We will put on the Lord Jesus Christ who in the mystery of the Incarnation became one of us.  The mystery of the Incarnation continues until this day in the humanness of daily life.

In this Advent season, may we know the mystery of the Incarnation in the beauty of Christmas trees, of candles that reveal the light of Christ overcomes all darkness, the meaning of gifts and presents, the joy of children, the joy of the parties and the family gatherings that are such a wonderful dimension of this festive season.  May we listen to the sound of our children in a way that we hear the mystery of God’s love that is in them.

When we are in touch with our spiritual center, Advent waiting is characterized by joy and not impatience and by hope rather than anxiety, for we know the One for whom we wait.

rrow we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception this.  Mary said:  “I am the servant of the Lord.  Be it done to me according to your Word.”

Mary is our example of John the Baptist’s call of repentance.  When Mary said yes to the plan of God for her life, she made the decision to live out God’s plan for her life, rather than providing for her security and comfort. 

Each year the church marks the season of Advent as a time to nourish hope in God’s kingdom.  During these four weeks, we open the Word of God to hear anew God’s dream.  Advent is a wonderful time of hope and trusting in God’s promise that a Savior will be born to us who is Christ the Lord.   But for us to make room in our hearts for the Savior, we must heed the call to repentance from John the Baptist.

Advent, like discipleship, calls us to firmer conversion and deeper commitment.  The spirituality of the Advent season calls us to repentance of all that keeps us from placing at the center of our lives.  When we embrace the call to repentance, we experience the joy, the beauty of the presence of Jesus in our lives and in our world.

Have a Blessed Day.