2nd Advent (A), December 9. 2007
Theme: Prepare the Way of the Lord

* If MTV existed back then, John the Baptist might have been a star!
* He dressed the part: camel’s-hair clothing and a leather belt.
* He ate exotic foods - locusts and wild honey.
* He was up front and in your face.
* He could not help getting people’s attention
* But, he was an attention-getter because he had something to say:
* “Repent” … straighten up; our society is a mess!
* What would John the Baptist say to us today?

* Have you ever been driving on a long trip when after about four hours you are moving in a half-dazed state?
* I have caught myself traveling for miles on a kind of “cruise control”;
* I wasn’t sleeping exactly, but I was almost in a hypnotic state.
* Suddenly I would go over a traffic lane and the little bumps would wake me up.
* Or worse, someone would honk a horn and startle me awake
* It’s scary! And it is dangerous!

* Life gets like that.
* We move along at 80 mph on cruise control.
* Maybe we haven’t crashed yet, but
* What are we missing along the way?
* Where is our attention?
* Where is our focus?
* Have we been missing those people and parts of our life that really count?
* Have we lost a sense of priorities?
* At this time of the year, with all its hustle and bustle, we are especially prone to cruise control - we put our heads down and plunge through the season.
* Sometimes we need a wake-up call from an in-your-face John the Baptist.  (cf. Jude Siciliano)

* Last week we started the season of Advent - a season of preparation:
* For the Celebration of Christ’s birth at Christmas
* And for the coming of Jesus at the end of time
* The season speaks of “Something New”
* It presents us with an opportunity for renewal and new beginnings

* The readings today give us guidelines for these new beginnings:
* The Reading from the Prophet Isaiah (11:1-10) speaks of a world where:
* “The Wolf will be the guest of the Lamb”
* “The Leopard shall lie down with the Kid”
* “The Calf and the Young Lion shall browse together”
* While these images seem idealistic and almost naïve to us,
* Isaiah gave hope to the people of Israel that an honorable and just King in the line of David would one day rein over God’s People

* As Christians, we believe that this prophesy has been fulfilled in Jesus,
* But, we realize that we human beings are the ones that have to build that just society.
* We realize that we are not there yet;
* Sometimes we cynically feel that we will never be there;
* But as followers of Jesus we live with Hope

* Last week we began a new liturgical year.
* This year we will be reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew.
* In today’s reading (from Chapter 3), we hear John the Baptist say, “Repent. Prepare the Way of the Lord”
* Repent - does not mean look back on all the things that we have done wrong in our lives and feel guilty.
* Repent - means,
* “Change your ways,”
* “See things differently”
* Prepare the way - Open your heart so that Jesus can touch your life.
* We all get into routines; we all have habits that are hard to change, we say:
* “Don’t Rock the Boat”
* “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”
* John the Baptist tells us:
* “If It Is Not Broken, Break It”
* Don’t let your spirit become stagnant
* Open your eyes to the possibility of a better world.
* This challenge has very practical implications.
*
* St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “…With one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
* “Welcome one another then, as Christ welcomed you for the Glory of God.”
* Welcome one another – welcome all – as we would welcome Christ
* Yet, this week in the newspaper there were some troubling articles about Candidate Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith.
* Personally I have no opinion on Mr. Romney’s candidacy
* In addition, there are some tenets of the Mormon religion that I do not understand
* However, I have schoolmates and friends who are Mormon and they are just good human beings.
* I do not fully understand the tenets of Islam, Judaism or Fundamentalist Christianity either, do I have a right to dismiss anyone a priori just on his or her faith?
* The late Martin Luther King Jr. said that his dream was that people would be judged by the “content of their hearts not by the color of their skin,” we might add nor by the religion they profess.
* Maybe the pettiness we saw this week needs to be “broken” in this country so that the care of people becomes more important than our personal prejudices.
* Maybe as a society, we need to “See things differently.”

* As we continue with this Liturgy
* Let us pray for each other.
* Let us pray for all in this parish and our world, so that:
* We can all prepare the way of the Lord,
* We can let the lord touch our hearts,
* We can build a more loving and just world together

* Amen

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