Homilies

I have discovered that there is a turning point for almost every person which changes everything. It is the moment that you hear the words,”you passed” and you are now a licenced driver. Everything changes with this and your life is never going to be the same. I heard these words at the age of 25 and can testify that my life is different.

I no longer had to mooch off friends for rides. I experienced freedom. And I saw the world very differently. I know many of you remember this or are looking forward to it. Will it change history? Perhaps a bit. But more importantly, it changes us. Our view things has moved from one place to another.

Now imagine, if something as simple as a driving test can change you and me, how seriously the call of John the Baptist must have changed the lives of those who heard him. They would never forget seeing a man who ate bugs wearing a fur coat in the desert heat. And they could never forget his message “prepare the way of the Lord.” There was a change coming about. And this would happen in the lives of the people of John’s time. Hills of human pride would be leveled and valleys of sinful weakness would be filled in. In a condition of exile, captives would be freed in a procession to forgiveness which rivals an army marching in victory. But did it happen? Where was this great change? All this was coming from a man who die in prison and who people mistakenly thought was the messiah.

Well, there was a change. Christ, the true Messiah has come and has exploded the barriers which kept us from the Father. He has demolished the walls which sin built around us. He has filled in all the pot-holes and pit-falls which caused us to miss our journey toward the love of God.

But do we see this great work of Christ in our lives? John is proclaiming, announcing and even screaming to us to prepare for the reality of God in our lives and yet it is so easy to miss. It is so easy to ignore. It may be something dramatic in our lives that needs to change so we can make room for God. Or it may be just a small addition or subtraction to what we do each day to live in accord with this message of Gospel freedom.

Wherever in your life this Advent you see the need for God, be assured that it is John the Baptist calling out over the ages for you to prepare for the coming of Christ into that area of your life. Of course, you first have to stop in this season of preparation and see where that need is. You have to know yourself.

So take the time this week in the midst of all the pre-Christmas rush to pause and look honestly at your life and at your soul. See - or better, ask God to show you, where you need to prepare for His grace. What are the mountains blocking you from God? What the valleys you fall into that keep you from His joy? Ask Him to make those crooked and broken parts of your life a little more whole. Use the healing Sacrament of Confession.

I assure you from personal experience that things will change in your life even more dramatically than getting a licence. When we hear and answer the call of John the Baptist, we get a freedom in God’s grace which changes everythign.

 

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