| Readings: | Baruch 5:1-9 Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 Luke 3:1-6 |
| Date: | December 8, 2024, Second Sunday in Advent, Cycle C |
In the fourth year of Joseph Biden's presidency, when Maura Healy was governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Richard Henning had just been installed as archbishop of Boston, and 173 days after the Boston Celtics won their 18th NBA championship, the word of God came to the parishioners of St. Isidore and St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Acton Boxboro and Stow. And those parishioners went out throughout Acton, Boxboro and Stow and beyond to proclaim the Good News that we have a God who so loves us and so forgives us, that he sent his only Son into the world to save it.
The details about people and places that we just heard from our reading from the Luke's are not just window dressing or unimportant details. All of the gospel writers wrote to communities that had a considerable presence of Gnostics. One of the characteristics of a Gnostic is that they consider only spiritual things important, and physical or earthly things either unimportant or distractions to rise above. Throughout all of the Gospels, the authors make it clear that creation is important, that Jesus is truly God AND human, that our bodies are important, and that God sent His only Son into the world, into creation, to save creation, not to liberate us from it. Our Catholic faith is a faith that is not just focused on heaven or eternity or what happens to us after death but it is firmly grounded in creation, in actual communities, and actual history. The Catholic Church has consistently taught us that our faith calls us to pay attention to our environment, to actual human suffering and injustice, and to act both personally and corporately in ways that care for the environment, and identify and relieve human suffering here and now.
We can reflect on how John the Baptist in particular embodies, and call us to live out, those Catholic principals in many different ways but I this morning I would invite you to reflect on what we are called to do by focusing on that passage Luke quotes from Isaiah. We are to be
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."
Years ago when I heard this passage, or sang them in hymns such as Let the Valleys be Raised or Ready the Way, I imagined what we were being asked to do was to make it easy for the Lord to come to us. But somewhere along the line, I started to realize that it meant no such thing but it was calling us to the exact opposite: we are being called to make it easier for God's people to get to God.
Let me explain. Many of us are familiar with a way of diagramming the hierarchical nature of the Catholic Church as a pyramid, right? At the top is God; just below God is the Pope, followed by ever widening levels of the clergy, then the religious, then various ministers of the church such as faith formation volunteers and at the bottom are the people. In a homily in 2015, Pope Francis referred to what he called the 'inverted pyramid' way of understanding our relationship to God, introduced by the documents of Vatican II. At the bottom of this inverted pyramid is the Pope, and then above him, the clergy, and then the religious, and then the various ministers of the church, all of them working to lift up that top layer of God's people to be closer to the apex of the diagram: God. I would even go so far as to distinguish that top layer into two layers: above the ministers are the baptized, and above the baptized, the rest of humanity.
See how John the Baptist does that. When I was reading this gospel, I was reminded of the question that the rich young man asked Jesus, "What do I have to do to enter into eternal life?" I am sure many of us would find it hard to give a simple, actionable answer to that question. John makes it simple, clear, and easy to do. He tells the people: repent of your sins, be baptized, and look for the one who follows me. He levels the hills, raises the ditches and straightens the winding paths that people felt were between them and God so that they can start taking those first, simple steps towards God.
By baptism we have been anointed priest, prophet, and king. A priest is someone who offers acceptable sacrifice to God, and helps people understand who God is and how much God loves us; a prophet is someone who speaks God's truth which is that God loves and forgives us; and a king is someone who helps and supports those who have no other support under the law - that is the poor, the outcasts, the unborn, the oppressed, the elderly in our society. As Paul reminds us, we are to let God complete the work that was started in us in baptism by inspiring us to love those around us as Jesus loves us. We are to do whatever we can both as individuals and as a community to bring that prophesy of Baruch's into reality, not just when we get to heaven but here and now.
These days of Advent call us to emulate John the Baptist, to prepare the way of the Lord so that all can not only see but enter into the salvation of our God. I need to become, not Charlie the Baptist, but Charlie the baptized, living out my anointing today, tomorrow, and everyday, here and now where God has chosen to place me.
Have a Blessed Advent!