Sunday, December 6, 2009

Second Sunday of Advent, cycle C

LUKE 3:1-6
MY WIFE SAYS I HAVE A LOUSY SENSE OF DIRECTION. BUT IT ISN'T THAT SO MUCH AS THE FACT THAT WHEN WE ARE OUT DRIVING, I GET DISTRACTED. I PAY ATTENTION TO THE ROAD, BUT I FORGET THE EXIT I WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE. I DON'T HAVE NEARLY AS MUCH TROUBLE WHEN I'M DRIVING ALONE, FOR SOME REASON. I GUESS WHEN I AM WITH MY WIFE I EXPECT HER TO TELL ME WHEN TO TURN. THAT'S ONE KIND OF BEING LOST. YOU LOSE A LITTLE TIME, YOU GET A LITTLE FRUSTRATED. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER KIND OF BEING LOST THAT I'VE ONLY EXPERIENCED ONCE. I WAS LOST ONE TIME IN A FOREST IN MONTANA. I WAS OUT HIKING BY MYSELF AND HAD NO PARTICULAR DESTINATION IN MIND. I FOLLOWED WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A TRAIL. WHEN I DECIDED TO TURN BACK, EVERYTHING LOOKED UNFAMILIAR. I COULDN'T TELL WHERE I HAD BEEN. AS TIME WENT ON, PANIC SET IN. I KNEW THAT THERE WAS ONLY ONE DIRECTION WHERE I COULD EXPECT TO FIND MY CAR, AND ALL THE OTHERS LAD DEEPER INTO THE FOREST. I TRIED TO FIND HIGH GROUND, BUT STILL DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE. FORTUNATELY AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR OF STUMBLING AROUND, I RAN ACROSS A STREAM AND FOLLOWED IT UNTIL I CAME TO A ROAD.
BEING LOST IN A FOREST OR A DESERT IS FRIGHTENING BECAUSE YOU GET DISORIENTED. THINGS START TO LOOK THE SAME, WHATEVER DIRECTION YOU GO. AND ALL THE WHILE, IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS HOW PEOPLE DIE – BEING LOST.
OUR GOSPEL TODAY USES IMAGES WHICH ARE STRANGE TO US. THE GOSPEL QUOTES FROM ISAIAH THE PROPHET, AND TALKS ABOUT KNOCKING DOWN MOUNTAINS AND FILLING UP VALLEYS, MAKING CROOKED ROADS STRAIGHT AND ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH. AND NOT JUST DOING THIS TO MAKE A PATH, BUT EVERY MOUNTAIN, EVERY VALLEY, EVERY ROAD. IT IS LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD IS TURNED INTO A GIANT MARBLE, SMOOTH AND THE SAME IN EVERY DIRECTION. WHEN THE PASSAGE STARTS, THE IDEA IS TO PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD. BUT WHEN IT ENDS, IT IS US WHO ARE BEING PREPARED, PREPARED TO SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.
ADVENT IS AN INTERESTING SEASON. IT IS A TIME WHEN WE ARE SUPPOSED TO FOCUS ON THE SALVATION OF GOD, THE MOMENT WHEN GOD ENTERS OUR WORLD, WHEN HE TAKES ON OUR FLESH, WHEN HE BEGINS TO LIVE WITH US AND FOR US, AND ULTIMATELY DIE SO THAT WE CAN HAVE HIS LIFE. BUT THERE ARE SO MANY DISTRACTIONS, MORE SO THAN ANY OTHER TIME OF YEAR. CHRISTMAS MUSIC IS HEARD ON EVERY RADIO, IN EVERY STORE; THE NEWSPAPERS ARE FILLED WITH INSERTS REMINDING US ITS TIME TO BUY PRESENTS. TELEVISION IS SATURATED WITH CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, VARIOUS MUSICAL SPECIALS WHERE PEOPLE WHO FLAUNT MORALITY DURING THE REST OF THE YEAR SING SILENT NIGHT. CHRIST WILL COME INTO THE MIDDLE OF A TRULY PAGAN WORLD, BUT HE ALWAYS DOES.
ANOTHER THING THAT HAPPENS, AT LEAST TO ME, DURING THIS SEASON IS PRESSURE. IN ADDITION TO MY REGULAR DUTIES, I'VE GOT TO SHOP, WRAP, MAIL, GET OUT CHRISTMAS CARDS, ATTEND A PARTY OR THREE, AND WITH MY WIFE PLAN WHAT WE ARE GOING TO FEED EVERYONE WHEN THEY GET HERE. AND I LOSE SIGHT OF MY PRAYER LIFE, MY PEACE IS DISTURBED, AND SOMETIMES I LET OUT MY TENSION ON THOSE AROUND ME. AND OTHER PEOPLE ARE UNDER THE SAME PRESSURE, AND SOMETIMES WHEN THINGS ARE JUST RIGHT, SPARKS WILL FLY, THINGS WILL BE SAID THAT SHOULDN'T BE, AND RELATIONSHIPS WILL BE HARMED, DURING A TIME WHEN RELATIONSHIPS SHOULD BE HEALED.
AND LASTLY, THIS IS A SEASON OF NEGLECT. THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WILL FEEL THAT I SHOULD HAVE REMEMBERED TO SEND THEM A CARD, OR GIVE THEM A GIFT. SOMEONE WILL EXPECT ME TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR GIFT TO ME, AND I'LL FORGET. AND THERE WILL BE PEOPLE, SOME WHOM I KNOW WELL AND SOME WHOM I DON'T KNOW, WHO ARE ALWAYS LONELY, BUT WILL FEEL EVEN MORE LONELY THIS SEASON, AND I COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE FOR ONE OF THEM WITH JUST A LITTLE OF MY TIME AND INTEREST. THE ADVENT SEASON TENDS TO SHARPEN AND FOCUS LONELINESS.
ADVENT IS FULL OF MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS AND CROOKED ROADS AND ROUGH ROADS THAT KEEP US FROM SEEING THE SALVATION OF GOD, THAT GET IN THE WAY OF THE GREAT KING WHO SEEKS TO COME TO US.
HOW ARE YOU AND I GOING TO TEAR DOWN OUR MOUNTAINS, FILL IN OUR VALLEYS, MAKE OUR CROOKED ROADS STRAIGHT? I THINK YOU AND I KNOW WHAT TO DO.
DO WE HAVE SOMETHING IN THIS SEASON THAT CALLS US BACK TO ITS TRUE MEANING? A LITTLE CEREMONY AROUND AN ADVENT WREATH IN OUR HOMES HELPS. TAKING TIME TO BREAK OUR ROUTINE AND SAY THE ROSARY HELPS. WE SHOULD PUT SOME SPACE IN EACH DAY TO DRAW CLOSER TO GOD WHO COMES TO US IN THE DIVINE CHILD. AFTER WE'VE KNOCKED DOWN THE MOUNTAIN THAT KEEPS US FROM OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, WE NEED TO TURN TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOR. WHAT ARE WE DOING DIFFERENTLY IN THIS ADVENT SEASON? ARE WE MAKING AN EFFORT TO VISIT THE LONELY, THE SHUT IN? ARE THERE PEOPLE FROM WHOM WE ARE ESTRANGED? ISN'T IT TIME TO MAKE THAT EFFORT TO HEAL THE RELATIONSHIP? HOW ARE WE GOING TO FILL IN THE VALLEYS THAT SEPARATE US FROM OUR NEIGHBOR? AND WHAT ABOUT OURSELVES? IF THE SEASON IS MAKING US CRAZY, IF WE ARE ANXIOUS AND BOUND UP IN ALL THE SO-CALLED SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS WE HAVE DURING THIS TIME, WELL, THAT'S NOT THE WAY IT SHOULD BE. GOD OFFERS US PEACE AND JOY, AND IF WE AREN'T TAKING IT, THEN OUR ROADS ARE TOO CROOKED, OUR PATHS TOO ROUGH.
IN ADVENT WE RISK BEING LOST, BEING UNABLE TO PROCEED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BECAUSE OF ALL THE OBSTACLES THAT CONFRONT US. ALL OF OUR MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS AND CROOKED AND ROUGH ROADS ARE THERE ALL YEAR LONG, BUT THEY ARE GREATLY MAGNIFIED IN THIS SEASON. IF WE CAN LEARN TO REMOVE THESE OBSTACLES NOW, SO THAT WE CAN SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD WHICH BEGAN THAT MOMENT LONG AGO WHEN JESUS CHRIST CAME INTO THE WORLD, WE WILL BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH THOSE DURING THE REST OF THE YEAR.
SO TODAY ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT IT IS GOOD TO LOOK AT HOW WE ARE REALLY PREPARING FOR THE COMING OF JESUS CHRIST.