Gospel: Mk. 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Homily
When I was about to go to study approximately twelve years ago many people asked me why I was going to study at my age. My answer to them was and still is
“ I have to prepare myself for the days when I no longer have the energy to run a parish. I need to be able to do something useful. Then as now I would not like to end my days sitting before a TV set sipping coffee or scotch. Growing old has made me very aware of the need to prepare myself for a useful retirement and a happy eternity.
Preparing for a useful retirement has called for a change in lifestyle. There has to be a conversion in my life, a change brought about by the doctor who reminded me that my latest studies would help no one if I was not healthy and alive.
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As I read the gospel for this weekend my own situation came to mind because it reminded me that creative waiting almost always needs a conversion. A prophet has to preach to us a baptism of repentance so that we may be converted, and we must have the grace to listen.
The doctor had to remind me, perhaps frighten me into acknowledging that my sedentary lifestyle would not allow me to wait creatively. My acknowledging of this fact about my own life has to be the catalyst for lifestyle change. All of us at some time or other have had the same experience. Positive change has come to us because we listen and we heard.
As we thank God for the prophets in our lives, who have called us to change, we must remember that these calls to change, to conversion are in fact reminders of and symbols of a call to conversion which deals not only with human realities but more importantly with spiritual realities.
Advent as we know celebrates waiting in all its dimensions but more especially the creative waiting for God in our lives. Creative waiting for God entails the building of the Kingdom. The Gospel today reminds that building the Kingdom always entails conversion, a new lifestyle so to speak. As we were reminded two weeks ago, The Kingdom is God’s reign of Justice, Peace and Love and it is to this that we must be converted, so that our waiting for God in our lives be creative. There are many people and circumstances around us which play the `role of John the Baptist, desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin. We hear his voice in the homeless whose plight cries out to us, in those living with HIV/AIDS, in the marches against crime etc. May we listen carefully so that we may hear and like the people around the River Jordan acknowledge our sins and be converted.
Prayer
All powerful and ever loving God, the memorial of the birth of your Son approaches once again and reminds us your Son will come again. As we await this second coming help us to understand that creative waiting entails a conversion, a change in lifestyle which will facilitate the Coming of your Kingdom. Help us to hear the voice of John the Baptist, calling us to conversion and gives us the Grace to accept that call. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother, the model of creative waiting, and through your Son Jesus. Amen
