SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
As we continue our Journey towards Christmas we are mindful of all the ongoing COVID19 restrictions. We continue to pray for all those who are suffering at this time from the Virus and its effects.
The general theme of the readings for this weekend is all about a voice in the wilderness. The voice we hear from the wilderness is John the Baptist, who came before Jesus as the lords herald. John tells us that there is one coming after him and that he is the son of God and that he was not good enough to take the sandals of his feet. He also tells us that we should make the paths straight for the lord. So are we making the paths straight for the lord as we try to make sense of all the ongoing razzmatazz or are we going to go with the flow, just too busy with all the secular preparations that this time of year brings to really take notice of the importance of the preparation that John the Baptist talks about?
John the Baptist came to reawaken the sense of expectation among a people that had grown tired and distant from God as many have done in our present time. John was called to bring renewal to the institutional expressions of religion which, at the time, had become fossilized into mere formulae and external ritual. As the journey of Advent continues John the Baptist’s clarion call to conversion sounds out in our communities. As we continue our preparations let us not forget the true and lasting message of Christmas that has lasted for over 2020 years and the message is that God came among us. All of us are asked to take up the Baptists call of renewal in order to prepare the way for the Lord. This is the call to reawaken within ourselves the fact that Jesus is god with us Emmanuel The Church in every age must become like John the Baptist, an uncomfortable reminder of how we must allow the truth of Jesus to break into our lives to enlighten the darkness that can at any moment enter into the life of the Church or our own lives .
Remember that the words of Jesus in the Gospel are there to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. So are we making the paths straight for the lord or are we just going to go with the flow a taking little or no notice of the importance of the preparation that John the Baptist talks about that is the spiritual preparation of our hearts and minds for the great spiritual event that Christmas is. Are we preparing as we should this year with its COVID19 restrictions and ups and downs that will happen as a result of them Christmas will be different. Having said that we should remember that our personal spiritual preparations should be the same as usual as we prepare the way for the Lord trying to make his paths straight in our own lives.
Fullerton T 