Saturday, December 05, 2009

Prepare

December 6, 2009


Second Sunday of Advent


By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ


Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name… For God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company. Baruch 5:1-2,9


…[T]he word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. He 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.’” Luke 3:2b-4


Piety


The Word of the Lord came to John and he responded. The filling in of valleys and the straightening of roads is our work. The salvation of our God needs to shine in all our words and deeds. Our partnership is in the love of Christ. The gifts of the Spirit are ours to give in his name. His love must speak out to our world in all that we do. The presence of Christ in our lives is spoken in all the goodness of our lives. Our piety is in the richness of the gifts we can give in the name of Christ. There can be no last minute buying in the gift we would give in the name of Christ. Our lives must catch up to what is needed in those we love who are part of our lives. Family is the big celebration we are preparing for as we reach out in the name of our family to heal the needy and give a roof to the homeless. God must have control over all of our lives. The truth of our freedom is a strange one. We must give away our freedom to do nothing that the nothing we do for each other might become the special of the kingdom of God. Our inadequacy can be no excuse as the Lord fills in the valleys of our hopelessness with the richness of his Coming. We must do all in the name of the Lord.


Study


We need to discern what is of value so that we may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ. He will be born into our world as a baby that we might value our littleness. We must be filled with the fruit of righteousness that flows out of the side of Christ where his heart was pierced for the life of the world. The glory and the praise that we have for God in our lives shows in our love shared with those who most need us. It is in the harvesting of the good we do that we will find the value of our lives. We need to rejoice that others are willing to need us. We need to reflect on the old Indian saying that he who receives our gift gives the greater gift. We need to open our own hearts to what others are willing to do for us. Gifts must fit the giver and the giver must live in the gift given. Our advent preparation is the putting on our hearts the glory of God. Our study is truly the learning the lesson of what we can do for God rather than what God can do for us. The paradox of Christ is in the simplicity of the realization that we can only keep what we share with others. We must learn by our study how we can be the hands and feet of Christ in our world today.


Action


Action each day of Advent needs the touch of the preparation we are making for the coming of Christ. We need to extend the kingdom of God to the homeless, the hungry and the hopeless. Our love must be a big H bomb of Hope for those who have no one to count on. We must break down the walls of our comfort Zones so that we can be reached by even those who would take advantage of us. We must be the spark of God’s love in Christ that will ignite the world we live in with fire of Divine love. If we can get our stony hearts moving we can be the pebble that starts an avalanche of God’s love to fill up the valleys of despair with the healing touches of Christ’s love. We must become a partnership of God’s love in Christ where the most little gift given in the love of Christ can start the world going again in the power of the Resurrection of Christ. Love will be discovered and it will be just like fire discovered for the first time. We can light up the hearts that are despairing with a love that burns forever in the name of Christ.