Prepare the way of the Lord

Christmas always calls for preparation. The kinds of preparation are as varied as the number of people. And that will depend upon who is being prepared for. Are we preparing for someone who means much to us? Then it becomes important to prepare a gift which would equally mean much. Gift-giving is foremost in every Christmas preparation. So, which would give utmost joy? The best foods, the most fashionable Christmas wear, money – millions of it or winning the lotto, shopping at the malls, house one has dreamed of for a long time, jewels, popularity, political clout, influence necessary for the coming elections and connections which will help us get anything we want. Are these the goods of earth we want entering our Christmas preparation?

The preparation we are called to make is outside this list. Today’s Gospel exhorts us to prepare for the coming of Christ. It is not the Christmas feast of satisfaction and pleasure we are preparing for, but we are preparing for Christ Himself who is coming. And Christ is about the most important person we can prepare for. The local church of the Philippines, in its recent pastoral letter has asked the faithful and their families to consecrate themselves to the Scared Heart. Perhaps it has no better way of summing up by means of the acronym C.O.R. the kind of preparation we should make for the coming of Christ – CONVERSION, OFFERING, REPARATION.

Well and alright. We can enjoy the Christmas shopping, the trips to the mall to get us the best clothes, food, Christmas decors, card sending, wrapping gifts, but let this not be a hindrance to our conversion. In the Gospel of today, John the Baptist preaches a conversion progressing to purity of mind and heart and a soulful goodness. A voice crying out from the wilderness of sin that has wrapped humanity, preaching a purification by means of a baptism of repentance and penance for the forgiveness of sin,; enjoining a goodness coming out of conversion. Graft must become honesty and greed which results in corruption must be transformed into sobriety, immorality must become decency and righteousness; selfishness must become giving and sharing; enemies must reconcile; indifference must disappear into love and concern for one’s fellowmen. The offering and reparation expected of us is ‘a contrite, humbled heart’ (Miserere,Ps 50).

The evangelist, Luke, makes John, the forerunner of Jesus, preach using the words of the prophet, Isaiah:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.

Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the winding road shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, (Is 6:12-15).

Thereby was inaugurated the period we yearly undergo during this time of preparation – the period when prophesy and a longed-for promise is fulfilled in the birth of the Savior.

Second Sunday of Advent, Luke 3:1-6