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2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C
December 9, 2012
Terranuova
Hermitage, Airville, PA
“All
Humanity Will See the Salvation of God.”
By (Rev.
Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato
Introductions
Hear
ye, hear ye … 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.
“John
was a Marylander. He began talking about
repentance.”
Imagine a person being introduced publicly in
this way:
Such an introduction 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, notice, he
makes absolutely no comment about them.
Not Others but Us
The fact is that Luke could say some very
critical and negative things about the leaders of the time, but he does not.
Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, and Herod are
secular rulers leading a secular government.
Notice Luke does not blame all the troubles of the world on them because
they are not religious or they are not spiritual persons.
Nor are Annas and Caiphas the best of religious
leaders. But again, Luke does not bash
them as being too progressive or too reactionary or too wishy-washy.
He simply 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.
He calls us to do this by dealing with the “stuff”
in ourselves. He wants us to look at how
we live, the choices we make, the kind of persons we are.
And in this noticing we can make way for the
Lord to be more fully alive in us, not by being negative about our leaders or
anyone else for that matter.
To guide us in that looking, John uses the vivid
images of the prophets who went before him.
Preparing the
Way of the Lord
First, John says, “Every valley shall be filled in.”
So, do we have a bit of 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
buying things we do not need and by allowing mere desires to become needs?
In this Advent season what is the valley I have to
fill with the person of Jesus Christ by being more reflective and prayerful in
the midst of all the busiyness?
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?
Advent then could be a time to thank God for the
talents, opportunities, and people placed in our lives that helped us achieve
and that we are part of community that wants to be there for others to have
some of those same blessings.
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 only my way?
Are we so insistent on getting our way that we don’t
really consider what this does to those around us?
Advent then could be a time to be more respectful
and talk things through with others and arrive at a goal together that all may feel
better about?
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 in today’s gospel? Are we caught up in blaming and
bashing others with angry and demeaning words?
In this Advent season do we need to be more
reflective, less confrontational, and work at understanding things from the
perspective of others especially those whom we may dislike?
Conclusion
“Hear ye, hear ye…” Saint Luke introduces John the
Baptist to us today.
And we remember he says nothing negative about the
civil and religious leaders of the day.
John wants us to look more at ourselves, not at others.
With a self-critical eye we turn our attention to
our valleys and mountains, our winding and rough ways and in the process prepare
the way of the Lord.
That sort of preparation has a real impact on
society. That is how the sacred can emerge from within the secular and bring to
birth the reality of which John speaks: “All
humanity will see the salvation of God.”
