Prepare for
his coming!
Bar 5:1-9 Ps 126:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5, 6 Phil 1:4-6, 8-11 Luke 3:1-6
One day this week I was feeling a bit discouraged and
sad as I could not work out what the Lord was asking from me. In a moment of
prayer I was telling Jesus that I felt disheartened. The first line of the first reading of today helped me - “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning
and misery; put on the splendour of glory from God forever” (Baruch 5:1). It was Jesus himself responding
to my prayer, telling me to cheer up, to be patient “as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ” as
we say in every mass. Sure enough after a few days things became much clearer
and I felt enlightened.
The psalmist today proclaims:
“The Lord worked marvels for us, indeed
we were glad” (Psalm 126). Something essential for every one of us is to
recognize these little marvels that God works in our lives. What little marvels
has the Lord worked in your life this week? Can you answer that question? Stop
for a moment. Don’t be in such a rush. What wonders is God working in your
life? Many people in our world of today are seeking only the big wonders. But
if we fail to spot the obvious little wonders of every day do you really think
we will spot the big ones? As G. K. Chesterton commented, “The world will
never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder.”
This week a priest friend shared to me the
wonderful thing God did in the life of his family recently. He is a missionary
and thus is far from his own country and family. His father fell fatally sick
and was about to die. The priest asked the family to put the cell phone next to
his semi-comatose father’s ear and said to him “Don’t die. Please hang on. I
will be there in one day.” His father hung on to life, even surviving a cardiac
arrest. The priest arrived and was able to be with his father, who actually
went on to make a full recovery. Many staff in the hospital were amazed at his
recuperation. The priest said to his dad, “If you want, I will stay at home
from now on.” Do you know what his dad replied from his hospital bed? “No son,
the Lord has entrusted you a mission. Go and fulfil your mission.”
Well we can reply, what about the many who
don’t recover? That is why I said go and discover the wonders God is doing in
your own life first or you will never be convinced, even if a man came back to
from the dead!!!
Come, Lord Jesus, come into the world as
light. Two thousand years ago the light came but was rejected by many. John the
evangelist reminds us, “He came among his
own but his own did not welcome him” (John 1:11). Before, they did not
recognize him as a little baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger, and still today, many times we do not recognize the Lord’s coming in
the preaching of the word of God, in the smile of another, in a kind word. How
much the world of today needs us to be like John the Baptist! Yes - to prepare
the way of the Lord. In today’s gospel, from St Luke, we hear the prophet
announcing: “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.’” (Luke 3:1-6).
This is the task of every Christian, to
prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. How can we do that? One young woman
was sharing her experience in the office. A workmate was flirting with many
men. She told the woman that she did not think it was right to play around with
the feelings of others. At first the other woman just laughed but then the girl
said “You are playing around because your heart is empty.” Later on the
colleague thanked her for being so honest with her and came to realize that her
truly her heart was empty as she was lacking the love of Christ.
Many Christians are growing in their
sensitivity to the Word of God. The Word did not only come to John the Baptist
but to many Christians who are trying to cultivate that loving friendship with
Christ. Sometimes we doubt that our lives can really be of help to Jesus and
his mission. Perhaps our lives are a little chaotic, maybe spiritually barren
or deserted. Even we can feel that our life is a bit too wild. But the word
comes to John when he is in the desert! When he is in the WILD-erness! The Word
does not only come to those souls that are pure, holy and in order. Where did
the Word choose to be born 2000 years ago? In a sterile and clean incubator of
Jerusalem Maternity hospital where everything was under control and in good
order? Or was it not in a cold, damp, dark manger, which was a bit smelly and
full of wild animals? That encourages me so much! Lord, there is room in my
heart for you. Please be born in the manger of my heart this Christmas!
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