In the first advent, folks didn’t realize how close Jesus was, and in a very real sense neither do we

2nd Sunday of Advent. December 5th, 2010

As we continue our Advent preparations for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, we now turn our attention to John the Baptist. He is the forerunner of the Messiah. John’s whole purpose in his life was to be the herald of the first advent, preparing the people of God for the first Coming of Jesus. So rightfully, now the Church turns to John for an insight into our own preparation for the coming of Jesus in our own time.

And so today, we hear again John the Baptist cry out, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.” In this season of Advent, John’s cry should be a wake up call to all of us. So often we can become caught up in the status quo of life, that status quo which tells us that everything is pretty much basically the same--day in day out. Our world for the most part changes doesn’t seem to change. Usually, nothing too drastic happens to our world, our surroundings pretty much stay the same…so not to worry. The status quo can in a sense easily become our god. We begin to think we can really trust it; we then spiritually fall asleep.

In that first advent, 2000 years ago, things were really not all that different from today in the sense that then the world was caught up in the status quo just like today. The people of Jesus’ time we told, like us, that the messiah would come some day; however, they looked at His coming a lot like we can look at the second coming of Christ, that even though it may be true is probably a long way off. The fact is we can all want Jesus to come, but just not yet.

In the first advent, folks didn’t realize how close Jesus was, and in a very real sense neither do we. Like us, the majority of the folks of Jesus’ day had just too many other things to worry about. When he was born, in that obscure little village, the vast majority of the world, including His own people, didn’t even notice…And now, as He is born on our Altars at Holy Mass just as truly as in the crib at Bethlehem, the vast majority of the world, including again His own people, doesn’t take much notice either.

John the Baptist’s message to those living in the first advent is the same message to us today. “Repent! Prepare the way for the Lord!” Change now, in order to let the King come more fully into your hearts; don’t miss Him, like most did back then. We don’t like change, but the message is all about change. We must change; we must repent.
This points to the main difference between the first advent and this Advent; the main difference is that the King is already here. Christ has come; He has come in the flesh, the flesh that he took from the Virgin Mary. Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God personified has come to earth. He lived liked one of us; He experienced the cares and struggles of daily life like one of us, and
He suffered and died like one of us, but rose again so that we might share in the power of His resurrection. The world will never be the same now that he lives—

Yes, the world is still a scary place, just like it was some 2000 years again. But it is different, because now the world has hope, and that hope has a name, it is Jesus. And this Jesus as not abandoned us; He is still Emmanual-God still with us, as one of us, in and through the Sacraments of the Church, especially the Most Blessed of all Sacraments, the Holy Eucharist, which is Jesus in Person. Jesus is still here with His power to heal us and save us.

So the message, for us today during this advent season is that now is the best time to prepare the way for the Lord in our hearts, to change, to repent and let the King of kings live again in each one of us. This is our call this holy advent season. In this call, there is indeed hope for those who have sufferings and struggles in this life. This is indeed hope for us even if the status quo of our own lives ever becomes shattered by tragedy, such as a person illness or the loss of a loved one-Jesus is still with us, not only in Spirit, in our memories, in our hearts, but in Person.

God is calling each and every one of us to a life of holiness and sanctity; we are called to be great saints--each one of us.
Through the Sacraments Jesus Christ wants to live again in our hearts; He wants us to be heralds of His to the fact that He has come to earth, that He continues to come at Holy Mass, and that He will come again in Glory and as Judge. How can anybody be ready for His second coming if they don’t know about His first coming and know about the fact that He comes again in the Holy Eucharist to prepare us and make us worthy to see Him face to face. In other words, if you don’t know, believe, adore, hope and love Him in the Holy Eucharist how will you be ready when Jesus comes again in Glory?

And so this Advent is a wake up call for us, you and me to become holier. It is a call to give up our own wills and live more and more in conformity to the Will of God, in order that it is not longer you and I who live, but Christ who lives in us. Through the Eucharist, Jesus wants us to allow Him this Christmas, and every Christ Mass to be born in the humble stable of our hearts.
But first we must be humble, for the King is a perfect gentleman and is not one to push Himself into a place where He is not welcomed and where there is no room for Him. How can we be humble and how do we prepare room for Him in our hearts?

Again John the Baptist has the answer, by repentance, which is nothing more than humbling ourselves by admitting our sinfulness; and then asking forgiveness for our sins, doing penance and amending our lives, that is changing our lives.
In order to truly repent we have to admit that we have sinned. We have to feel sorry for what we have done wrong and for what we have fail to do right, and to feel sorry about it to the point that we decide to, once and for all with God’s help, change. And so, to repent means to take a new viewpoint, a new attitude. It includes a turning away from the old self and a turning toward God and to a new self.

So this advent let’s take a look at what are we doing in our lives that displeases God—is it cursing, taking the Lord’s name in vain, how about missing Holy Mass deliberately, arriving late or leaving early without a good reason. Is it excessive drinking, anger, impurity, dishonesty, gossip? What are the things we are failing to do and thus displeasing God—are we failing to talk to Him in prayer, each and every day, or are we failing to make an effort to come to know Him better by learning more about Him through the teachings of the Church and reading the Scriptures with the Church. What about failing to make an effort to be thoughtful of others, failing in supporting the Church, our parish family, taking a part in the parish life; or falling to help the needy and underprivileged by helping and supporting the St. Vincent de Paul Society of our parish?

Doing what God does not what us to do or failing to do what He wants us to do, these are the barriers that prevent Christ from coming into our hearts not only in a special way at Christmas but at every Mass. These are the ways that we can shut him out as the innkeepers did on that first Christmas Eve night. The stable was the only place for him, because it was the humblest of all places where he could have been born. So we too must make our hearts humble and pure for the coming of the King. He will only stay where he is welcome, where the way has been prepared for him--that is in a humble heart, a repentant heart.

Jesus personally forgives of our sins in the Sacrament of Penance; this is how we can best prepare the way for Lord, this holy Advent season. When we have humbled ourselves and repented of our sins, the stable of our hearts is changed and so is prepared to receive him. Jesus can come again and take up his abode with us, to live again in us so that by His grace we can be formed into His image and likeness.

This Advent let us make room by preparing our hearts for him by giving ourselves totally to Jesus at this Holy Mass and every Holy Mass. We do this interiorly by an act of our will. The Virgin Mary gave her fiat, her total yes to God when she said, let it be done unto me according to Your will.” Let us ask her to intercede for us so that we may even more deeply offer to God our own fiat, our whole selves in union with the offering of Jesus on this altar of sacrifice, so that through her and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ can be born again fully in our hearts when we receive Him in Holy Communion and then our hearts may be ones full of hope. And we will then be heralds of that Hope to others, because it is no longer just I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.

Mother of our Hope and Our Lady of the New Advent, Pray for us. Amen. God bless you.