One of the central biblical figures associated with the
season of Advent is, of course, John the Baptist. Last sunday we heard how John was down at the
Jordan River helping people prepare for the arrival of the Messiah. In order to
prepare he called sinners to a baptism of repentance. Prepare for the coming of the Lord by
repenting of your sins, changing your ways, amending your life.
John’s call to repentance echoes through the Advent season. On
Thursday evening this week, our parish will have an opportunity for repentance:
our annual Advent Reconciliation Service.
Several visiting priests will be here, in addition to myself and Father
Klasinski, to offer an opportunity for you to prepare for the coming of Christ
at Christmas, by making a good confession.
So, let me do my best St. John the Baptist impression now by
proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord” by coming to confession this week,
especially, if it’s been more than a few months since your last
confession.
One of the benefits of making a good confession is being
filled with joy knowing that I am forgiven by God. Joy is the central theme of
this Gaudete Sunday. “Gaudete in Domino semper” Rejoice in the Lord always, St.
Paul told us in the second reading. But
we cannot rejoice in the Lord always unless we are in right relationship with
him.
One of the reasons we go through life without experiencing
the joy God wants for us is because of sin.
Sin might bring temporary gratification…gluttony, lust, pride, wrath,
greed…these things often feel good “at the time”, but in the end we know that
instead of giving us life, they take it from us. So come to confession this week, allow the
Lord to remove some of those obstacles to joy. You never regret going to
confession, but you’ll always regret not going.
In the Gospel today we heard that there was a lot of
excitement about John; People had heard that John was preaching, calling people
to repentance, he was wearing the clothes of a prophet, he was down at the Jordan
River, right at the spot where Joshua had brought the Israelites into the
promised land after 40 years wandering in the desert. People began to think that John was the
promised Messiah. After all, he was
quoting a lot from the prophet Isaiah, who prophecied how God would send a
Messiah, a deliverer, to restore Israel, to deliver her from her enemies.
With all this excitement, people came to him asking him if
he was the Christ. And how did John respond? “I am not He” John says, “I’m not
even worthy to untie the straps of His sandals”. John teaches us here something of extreme
importance for preparing for Christ, for being in right relationship with God—he
teaches us a fundamental attitude for being Christian. John teaches us, “I am not the Christ” and
none of us are, either.
John was such a powerful because he knew who he was, and he
knew who he wasn’t. He knew that he was
not the Christ, he was not God. He had
his life in order and his priorities straight, he knew the most important thing
in life is being in right relationship with God, and step one, is believing
that there is a God and knowing that “I am not He.”
The realization that “I am not God” is profound. It’s the starting point for
Christianity. I am not God, I am not the
savior, but I need God, and I need a savior, so I’m going to do everything I
can to come into right relationship with God and nurture that
relationship. That’s what John the
Baptist did, that’s what each of us are called to: to admit, “I am not the
Christ” and “I need a savior—I need someone to save me from my sins.”
For, If I don’t need a savior, Christmas, the birth of Jesus
isn’t a world changing event, it’s just another birth among billions. I think one of the major temptations of life
is to forget that we are sinners profoundly in need of a savior. And by not
recognizing Jesus as savior we miss out on a profound dimension of our faith,
the dimension that brings us joy in being redeemed sinners.
Another reason why we often do not experience the joy God wants
for us, is because we keep Him on the fringes. We treat prayer, we treat service,
we treat Mass, as merely obligations to get out of the way, so I can get back
to living MY LIFE, the way, I want to live it.
If that is our attitude, we will never find joy. Christianity is not merely a set of
obligations so that God will let us go to heaven. Rather, prayer, especially Holy Mass, and
service are the means by which we can discover joy in this life.
St. Paul says, rejoice in the Lord always. He speaks of joy
as the mark of the Christian over 20 times in his letters. If we don’t joyfully
encounter the Lord in the primary areas of prayer, Mass, reading scripture, and
service, it will be impossible to rejoice in Him in those other areas of life.
Our Christian pilgrimage isn’t meant to be one of sour, sorrowful,
begrudging fulfillment of empty obligations. Sorrowful drudgery and sour faces
are not to be the mark of the Christian.
When we look to the saints, our examples of what it means to be a
Christian, they are not these bored,
depressed, people, but people who have
become fully alive, who are animated with joy, because of the radical nature of
their belief and love of Christ and the practice of his teachings. Jesus said,
“I have come that you may abundant life.” Life that is over flowing with peace
and joy and charity.
And as John the Baptist shows us, this abundant life and joy
cannot be obtained if you think and act that you are God, or if you keep God at
the fringes. The Baptist expresses this
teaching elsewhere in scripture when he says, “I must decrease, while Christ
must increase.” Jesus Christ must become the “center of your universe and
history” as Pope John Paul II wrote.
Arrived now at the half-way point of Advent, we do well to
ask ourselves, what does it mean, in the concrete details of my life, in my
relationships, with my habits and sins, what does it mean for me to decrease
and Christ to increase. What needs to
change so that I can experience the joy God wants for me? What will I have to
so “no” to, so that I can say “yes” to God.
Holy Spirit, come, and help us to prepare well for
Christmas, by submitting our lives, ever more fully to the dominion of Christ,
by turning away from sin, and being faithful to the Gospel, for the glory of
God and salvation of souls.
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