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“Prepare the way of the Lord.”
John went throughout the whole region proclaiming a baptism of repentance as it is written using the words of Isaiah: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths."
Just as John the Baptist reminds the people in the region of the Jordan to prepare the way of the Lord, so too we are called to do the same. It started with our Baptism when we became members of the Body of Christ. It happens by our daily words and actions, our call to "Live Jesus" every moment of every day.
Our reading from Baruch reminds us to put on the splendor of the glory of God forever and our Responsorial Psalm reminds us that the Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.
We may ask ourselves if we truly are filled with joy as we prepare the way of the Lord. Are we? This joy only happens if we work on our relationship with God and one another. We can not give what we do not have. If God is not the center of our life, we will fail.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales tells us that devotion must be experienced in different ways: by the gentleman, the worker, the servant, the widow, the young girl and the married woman. Not only that, but its practice must be adapted to the strength, activities and duties of each individual person.
St. Francis de Sales believes that we must start with our interior, that is, with our prayer life. If we work on building a healthy, ongoing relationship with God, it can go a long way in helping us to build, healthy, ongoing relationships with others. It can help us to put into action the prayer of St. Paul: “I pray always with joy in every prayer for all of you”.
If we are deepening our relationship with God on a daily basis, we will be better able to prepare the way of the Lord with joy in our daily encounters with one another. We will be able to “Live Jesus” every moment of every day.
Together!
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“Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak. Say to those whose hearts are frightened: be strong, fear not!”
In today’s Gospel Jesus fulfills the prophetic words from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah through prophetic action. First, Jesus forgives the sins of the paralyzed man; second, he heals the man’s paralysis.
The Season of Advent provides us with a wonderful opportunity to consider the ways – any ways – in which we might be suffering from any form of paralysis: spiritual, emotional, social - and perhaps - even physical. In what ways might our minds be feeble? In what ways might our resolve be weak? In what ways might our hearts be frightened?
Whether on our own – or with the help of others – let us approach the Lord in our neediness. Let us ask for His forgiveness. Let us ask for His strength. May He open our eyes, ears and hearts to the wonders of His power! May our tongues – and lives – give witness to His love!
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i>“Comfort; give comfort to my people, says your God.”
In a commentary on the necessity to “reprint the Gospel,” Blessed Louis Brisson observed:
“The third evangelical task about which I want to speak is the evangelization of the nations - the preaching of Our Lord. Our Lord has come to earth to give us an example, to instruct us and to redeem us by His sufferings. The preaching of the Gospel was one of the principal reasons for His coming. We, therefore, should reprint the Gospel also by our preaching.”
“All of us should preach. Those who work with their hands as well as those who are occupied with exterior works, those who conduct classes as well as those who teach by example, those who direct souls as well as those who are assigned to the ministry of the pulpit - all of us should preach. We should preach in a practical way. We should teach our neighbor, if not by our words, at least by our actions. If you do so, do you think that you will have no influence on those who see you?” (Cor ad Cor, p. 30)
Today are you looking for a way to “reprint the Gospel?” Are you interested in doing your part to continue “the evangelization of the nations, the preaching of Our Lord?” Then here is one suggestion that comes directly from our God Himself.
“Comfort; give comfort to my people.”
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“She became the mother of all the living…”
In order to fully appreciate the Church’s teaching on the Immaculate Conception – that Mary was preserved from the effects of Original Sin from the moment of her conception – Francis de Sales placed it within the larger context, that is, God’s plan of salvation.
In his Treatise on the Love of God, Francis wrote:
“God displays in a marvelous manner the incomprehensible riches of His power in the vast array of things that we see in nature, but God also displays the infinite treasures of His goodness in an even more magnificent way in the unparalleled variety of goods that we recognize in grace. In a holy excess of mercy, God is not content solely with granting to his people, that is, to the human race, a general or universal redemption whereby everyone can be saved. God has diversified redemption in many ways so that while God’s generosity shines forth in all this variety, the variety itself in turn adds beauty to his generosity.”
“First and above all, God destined for his most holy Mother a favor worthy of the love of a Son who, since he is all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good, necessarily prepared a Mother in keeping with himself. Therefore, God willed that his redemption be applied to her in the form of a remedy that would keep her safe, so that the sin which spreads sown from generation to generation would not reach her. As a result, she was redeemed in a surprising way. At the appointed time the torrent of original sin began to roll its fatal waves over the conception of this holy woman (with the same impetuous strength it had exerted at the conception of all Adam’s other daughters): then, when the torrent had reached that point, it did not pass beyond it but stopped…In this way, God turned all captivity away from his glorious Mother. To her God gave the blessing of the two states of human nature: she possessed that innocence which the first Adam had lost, and she surpassingly enjoyed that redemption which the second Adam gained for her. Hence, like a chosen garden that was to bear the fruit of life, she was made the flower of every kind of perfection.” (Book II, Chapter 6)
How was this freedom from the effects of sin displayed in the life of this singularly redeemed woman? Everything that she experienced in life “was used devoutly and faithfully in the service of holy love for the exercise of the other virtues which, for the most part, cannot be practiced except amid difficulty, opposition, and contradiction…The glorious Virgin experienced all human miseries (except such that directly tend to sin) but she used them most profitably for the exercise and increase of the holy virtues of fortitude, temperance, justice, and prudence, and of poverty, humility, patience and compassion. Therefore, such things did not hinder heavenly love but on many occasions assisted and strengthened it by continual exercise and advance.” (Treatise on the Love of God, Book VII, Chapter 14)
Whether sinner or sinless, we all have one thing in common with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the “mother of all the living”. We are called to embrace each day as fully as possible with its countless opportunities to practice “fortitude, temperance, justice, prudence, poverty, humility, patience and compassion.” In practicing these virtues, we not only experience the freedom of God’s redemption, but also, we can more freely be instruments of God’s redemption in the lives of others.
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“The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness…” Anger is defined as “a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed because of something wrong or bad; the feeling that makes someone want to hurt other people, to shout, etc.; the feeling of being angry”.
Regardless of how we define it, we know anger when we see it. We know anger when we hear it. We know anger when we feel it. It is, after all, part of the experience of being human.
But as Scripture tells us, anger is also part of being divine. How many times do we hear references to God’s anger, God’s wrath and God’s fury? But note the qualification made in today’s responsorial psalm: God is slow to anger – almost as if to suggest that God only grows angry as a last resort. Even then, the same Scriptures tell us that God’s anger does not endure because divine anger always gives way to the even greater power of divine mercy, divine compassion and divine forgiveness.
What a contrast with human anger! How often are we quick to anger! How frequently is anger the first emotion for which we reach! How long we remain angry! How often our anger takes on a life of its own! In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales counseled:
“I say to you, this life is an earthly journey to the happy life to come. We must not be angry with one another along the way; rather, we must march on as a band of brothers and companions united in meekness, peace and love. I state absolutely and make no exception: do not be angry at all if that is at all possible. Do not accept any pretext whatever for opening your heart’s door to anger. St. James tells us positively and without reservation that ‘the anger of man does not work the justice of God.’” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 3, pp 146 – 147)Just today, let us do our level best to live without anger. Should we become angry, let it be the last to arrive and the first to depart. In the event that anger comes our way, may it give way to meekness, peace and love.
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“You’re damned if you do; you’re damned if you don’t.” That statement pretty much sums up the message in today’s Gospel selection from Matthew. John the Baptizer was criticized for being aloof and austere; Jesus was criticized for being an accessible, down-to-earth man of the people.
There was just no pleasing some people.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis de Sales wrote:
“Does anyone fail to see that the world is an unjust judge, gracious and well-disposed to its own children but rigorous towards the children of God? We can never please the world unless we lose ourselves together with it. It is so demanding that it can’t be satisfied. ‘John came neither eating or drinking, says the Savior, and you say, ‘He has a devil.’ ‘The Son of Man came eating and drinking,’ and you say he is ‘a Samaritan.’ If we are ready to laugh, play cards or dance with the world in order to please it, it will be scandalized at us, and if we don’t, it will accuse us of hypocrisy or melancholy…” (IDL IV, Ch. 1, p. 236)
You know the old adage: if you try to please everyone, you end up making yourself miserable. On any given day follow the example of both John and Jesus; be who you are and be that as best as you can, come what may!
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“You were destined…to turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons.”
Advent is the season during which we are challenged ‘to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. In this season we are challenges to lay down our arms, and to let bygones be bygones.
In his Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis de Sales wrote:
“When your mind is tranquil and without any cause for anger, build up a stock of meekness and mildness. Speak all your words and do all your actions – whether little or great –in the mildest way you can: not merely with strangers but also among your own family and neighbors. As soon as you recognize that you are guilty of a wrathful deed, correct it as soon as possible by an act of meekness toward the person with whom you were angry.” (IDL, Part III, Chapter 8, p. 149)
This season of peace – which is unlike any other season – reminds us of relationships in which peace is lacking. We are reminded of fences that need to be mended, hatchets that need to be buried and wounds that need to be healed with fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, neighbors, co-workers and friends.During this Advent season to whom do our hearts need to turn?
Or return?
