2^nd Sunday of Advent

December 4, 2011

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11;  2 Peter 3:8-14;  Mark 1:1-8.

Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak

Last time I checked, John the Baptist had no prophet credentials.  No degrees from the Jerusalem University, no clerical collar, no published articles or books.  Yet, John lives where prophets live, in the desert. John wears a garment of camel’s hair, reminiscent of the prophet, Elijah.  His diet is the ascetic fare of prophets, hinting at more nourishing spiritual food.  John lives where prophets live, dresses like a prophet, eats like a prophet, and talks like a prophet, so he must be a prophet.  As a prophet his primary work is freeing people from their identification with sin.  He does this through a call to change their hearts and minds (interior) and behaviors and actions (exterior) and to experience and symbolize this change in the act of baptism, going under the water to die to sin and emerging above the water open to the sky.

And all of that is just the beginning.    John also announced the one who is to come after him; the long Awaited One is just around the corner; about to enter the world stage.  John tells us how to get ready:  He quotes Isaiah, make the path straight, remove any obstacles in our way, and smooth over the rocks, not so much that we can get to God, but that God can come to us.  God comes after people; people do not have to search for God.  God comes.  If we empty ourselves of sin, of the obstacles we put in God’s way, we can welcome the Holy Spirit who comes with Jesus.  Then we are ready.

We may not look like a prophet, or wear the clothes of a prophet, or eat what prophets eat, or live where prophets live, but our baptism makes us prophets.  As a community, the church, the People of God, we are a prophetic body.  We are invited, even strongly invited, to keep the name of Jesus alive in our time. 

Our task, then, as a parish community, is to continue this work of going out to people, searching for them, helping them to become free of all that binds them.

That is why we ask each one of you to give of your time, talent, and treasure.  If we all give from the gifts given to us, our parish will continue the mission of Jesus, reaching out to the lost, the marginalized, the poor and needy, and doing works of justice.  We do this already in so many ways, but it is a continuing task, never finished but always in process.

Our theme for the year, “Hope!  Here and still coming,” captures the feeling from the gospel that John the Baptist brought to the people of his time, that they are loved.  We bring hope to the people of our time by the work we do.  We do it as a community of believers and prophets and we need everyone’s support to make it flourish.

“Prepare the way of the Lord”.  How do you do this?  How do you make straight God’s path?