Prepare. (2024-12-08, Advent)

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 [__ver-03__]   Homily – Dec. 8, 2024  /  Advent (Year C)  ● Baruch 5:1-9 ● Psalm 126    ●  1 Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 ● + Luke 3:1-6●

[ 01 Christmas as a Cultural Phenomenon of preparation]

We are now counting down the days until Christmas. This leads to  a common question: Are you ready for Christmas? It’s a cultural reflection of our concern with preparation, a recurring theme in our daily lives.

Even in our dreams, we often face “readiness anxiety”

[ 02 Dream example ]   Do we not experience this as a psychological phenomenon, not only when we are awake, but also when we are asleep?  Thinking about “readiness” is always present.

Sometimes, I have – what I think are called - anxiety-based dreams at night. Do you sometimes have anxiety based-dreams which are somehow linked to feelings of incomplete readiness?

For example, in your dream, sleeping state, you are a student in school and have a difficult test in a difficult subject and you cannot answer the questions.

Or, you are going to a meeting or job interview or on a trip and you have forgotten to bring an important document such as your resume or your passport.

In my case, I have awoken from such a dream and felt relieved to know that I am not taking a math test nor do I have a job interview.

Maybe, I do not have to be ready for these things.

But what about my state of readiness - spiritually, prayerfully - in other areas of my REAL LIFE …as we say in texting IRL = IN REAL LIFE.

In real life, we are called to be ready each day.

 [ 03 Gospel command: “Prepare” and the Lord’s prayer] 

In the Gospel today, we read the proclamation of John the Baptist which begins with “Prepare ye the way of the Lord…”

 This command to prepare the way of the Lord connects with the words of the Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

          So, I would like to focus on this petition for God’s will to be done. Do I mean this when I say it, pray it?

Sometimes I do the opposite of focusing on God’s will.

For example, when I think about Advent and Christmas, I think about all the things I have to do. Do you make to-do lists, checking them twice, to see what’s naughty or nice?

I know I have a tendency to focus on what I am supposed to be doing and, in my pride - proudly - focus on what I want to be noticed for doing, recognized for achieving.

In this regard, I am not discovering Christmas but distorting Christmas to suit my needs: MY WILL BE DONE. And, everyone else, just get out of my way, prepare the way for me!

Toward the true spirit of Christmas,  John the Baptist (JTB),  says - of Jesus - “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”. These words of Holy Communion come from JTB in the Gospel.

We are called to prepare the way of the Lord by our words and actions. So, there may be various tasks you and I are called to for Christmas - visiting family, buying a gift for the Giving Tree, writing a Christmas card, preparing a meal, for forgiving a hurt or fault experienced by someone’s actions.

In all of these things, I invite you to consider not what you are doing, but what God is doing through you.

You are not God. I  am not God. But, we can prepare a highway - or at least our own sidestreet or hallway or entryway for God.

 

[ 04 Why prepare? Because we cannot predict.] 

We are reminded to prepare our hearts, with prayer, fasting and charitable giving not because we can predict what will happen but because life is unpredictable.

Are there not countless things in this world that we cannot predict?

It is interesting to note that there are at least 3 commonly known professionals who gain lots of attention making predictions often with inaccurate results. They are:

·        Economists predicting inflation, the stock market and other indicators

·        Meteorologists predicting rain and snowfall

·        Sportscasters predicting winners and losers on the playing field

In a sense, all are making predictions to us and, while we listen to lots of predictions, we may not necessarily be any more prepared just because we got a prediction.

Here is one example and lesson I learned.

Regarding the unpredictable nature of rainfall and weather, I was recently caught by surprise. This was back in August.

It was a Monday morning and I was planning to go out of town, to travel north to visit family. Right before my departure, the night before, we had a very heavy rain storm.  We got water all over the floor of the church basement.

          I felt frustrated, as though I should have been able to predict this weather pattern or avoid it. This was my pride kicking in. My departure was delayed by a few hours which was - in the end - not a big deal.

But, what enabled me to leave was not that I predicted what would happen but that others on our rectory staff were prepared to step in and take responsibility and challenge and make the necessary phone calls and meet the clean up service personnel.

This is a reminder that we do not prepare or respond in solitude or in solitary confinement but we also prepare so that we can work and help each other.

We cannot predict. We can only prepare.

My mother would tell us - make your plans, do not plan your results. In other words, prepare.

A few days after this storm which produced flooding in New Jersey, I heard that it was much worse in Connecticut where 2 people died in the flooding. This news was a reminder to me that whatever I had gone through or was going through - there were others in more dire circumstances.

[ 05 Conclusion….]    This reminder to prepare continues with Jesus in his conversation with his disciples, up to and including his Passion.  On the night before he dies, he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and get ready spiritually.

          He tells his disciples to stay here, watch and pray.  When Jesus returns to them, he finds them asleep.  It is not really the sleeping that is the problem. They were physically tired. We all need rest.

The problem was that they did not know what to do even after they woke up. The anxiety-based dream is not such a bad dream to have if it reminds that - even if we do not have a mathematics test - we still are called to prepare…

Pope Benedict XVI observes what you and I also know that Christmas and Advent are often distorted or discombobulated with external displays and excessive lighting - even if it is LED and environmentally friendly.

Darkness and silence - if they promote love of God and love of neighbor - are also friendly to both heaven and earth!

The invisible presence of God is more important than any visible displays,

In fact, if we really want to make God present as B16 writes- change your thinking - conversion through prayer and silence - so that God may be present in you and, through you, present in the world.

The world means your street, your school bus, Washington or Mount Pleasant Elementary, Edison, West Orange High School, Seton Hall Prep, the Mount, Rutgers, your place of work, your home. The parking lot after Mass. This is your world.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight his paths.  [__end__]