December 07, 2008 Second Sunday of Advent Is. 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Pet 3:8-14; Mk. 1:1-8 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________   Readings: http://www.catholicdoors.com/homilies/2008/081207.htm   ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________     Authentic spiritual preparation begins with a call to attention.   First of all the people who went out to hear John the Baptizer’s words and respond to his call for a baptism of repentance were not all that different from us. By and large, they would have considered themselves believers in God. Many would have said they attended worship and did their religious duties at the temple.   The second point we need to understand is that in spite of the fact that many of the people who came to hear John considered themselves spiritual, something John said went struck at the core of their souls. "I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thongs of his sandals." One of the essential elements in preparing for Christmas – that is in preparing for the coming of Christ – is in taking a serious inventory of my inner life.   A third major issue in John’s message is that he is a voice crying out in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord!" It isn’t prepare for Christmas Holidays… or prepare for company… or prepare your credit card limit… It’s prepare for the Lord! The issue John raises, however, is that we are to examine our souls to prepare for the coming of the Holy One into our lives.   A final point is "…make his paths straight."  This would mean literally to make the road level. In other words, the way for God to come into our lives should not be "an uphill battle." The issue is of making a level road for the Lord to enter my life, instead of making it an uphill road speaks to me about priorities. If I write down a list of the real priorities on my agenda for the next few weeks – would it become painfully clear that I need to rearrange them?   John’s call to repentance is a call to turn away from everything that clutters the highway of my life and to raise the priority of my relationship with the Lord during this season.   Advent comes to us each year as a call to renewal. It is a call for remember and renew the place Christ wants to hold in our lives. In the wilderness of the commercial season that is upon us, the voice of the wilderness preacher comes to us once again: Prepare the place of Christ in your lives! Make it easy for him to enter in!   <<   Previous: First Sunday of Advent  | Next: Third Sunday of Advent >>   Go Back to SERMONS (Year B)