The Word Enters History - Second Sunday of Advent, Year C
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| An Icon I Wrote (with tremendous help from Fr. Pachomius Meade!) in 2013 of St. John the Baptist |
You can listen to the homily at the bottom of the post.
“In the second year of the presidency of Donald Trump, when Mike Parson was governor of Missouri, when Robert Carlson was Archbishop of St. Louis, during the high priesthood of Father Joe Post, the word of God came to the people of Immaculate Conception in Union.” Does that seem a bit odd to you? A bit surprising? I think in our society, we so often split apart the political realm and the religious realm that it could be very unique to see the two together. When we hear this, we realize that when Luke was writing his Gospel, he was very conscious that he was writing within specific period of history, which is why he includes the names of the government officials within this reading. The original readers, because of their proximity to this time period, would have certain memories of what these political leaders were like. In the same way, we can remember that the Word of God comes into history itself, even in our own day. Jesus continues to come, but are we aware of it?
This season of Advent is the perfect time to prepare for His
coming. We began last week by hearing
about how important it is to stay awake amid all the craziness of the world. In his homily, Father brought up the
earthquake in Alaska, particularly that powerful image where the highway
completely cracked apart. What might be
even crazier though is that they fixed that shattered road in four days – on
Tuesday, it was perfectly fine to drive on.
Well, we can see that they’re heeding John the Baptist’s command to
prepare a highway for our Lord!
When we see incredible signs like these, it’s easier to
become attentive to the Lord, to cry out to Him for help, but what about the
day-to-day? In the midst of our daily
tasks, it’s easy to settle into the routine and not be aware of God’s presence
with us. He may desire to share
something with us through His grace or through other people, but if we’re not
open to receiving it, then we miss that opportunity. Take a moment and imagine with me: back when
Jesus was on the earth, how many people simply walked by him without knowing
who he was? Even when he was preaching
and performing miracles, how many people may have taken note of him one day but
forgot about him the next?
One of my favorite authors, Hans Urs von Balthasar, writes
about this possibility in a powerful way; just listen to what he
describes. “And so the Son of God came,
and now he mingled as a stranger in the tumult of the market-place. He walked past the stand where the clever and
witty offered their wares for sale. He
walked past the statues of the gods, the known and the unknown, climbed a
mountain, looked out over the different countries, heard laughing and
crying. And when he walked through the
crowd and it almost crushed him, no one saw him. He fixed his divine eye on this youth or on
that girl, but they did not feel it and looked away in their distraction.” Wouldn’t that be crazy, to be living at the
same time the Son of God was incarnate on this earth and even to look upon him,
and to have no idea that he was there? This is the reality: “He was the Light, and
all were blind. He was the Word, and all
were deaf. He was Love, but no one even
suspected Love existed.”[1]
But then something incredible happens in this Gospel
passage: in the midst of the daily routine, the word of God comes to John the
Baptist in the desert. John was Jesus’
cousin, and we don’t know what his early life was like. We do know that the angel Gabriel announced
to Zechariah that his son John would be entrusted with a powerful mission, to
be the forerunner of the Messiah and to announce his coming. At some point, John was prompted to enter the
desert in seclusion to prepare for this mission. And this is when the word comes to him, in
the midst of history, prompting him to announce this word to all.
Here’s the key point: the word of God enters into
history. Into our universe and daily
routine, Jesus enters in. He does so
especially through his word. And we can
be prepared to welcome this word into our lives in a deeper way. And this word may be consoling for us, but it
may also be very challenging. When it
comes to us, our lives are not going to be the same.
I’ve experienced this in many ways in my life, and I
remember one particular moment. It was
the summer after my freshman year of high school, and I was on a retreat with a
lot of other high schoolers. I had
already been starting to get deeper in my faith, but I was also having a lot of
struggles. So I went to confession to a
priest who I didn’t know, and I don’t know how he knew me. I was open and honest in my confession about
my sins and struggles, and it was powerful to receive the Lord’s mercy and
peace. But after my confession, the
priest asked me, “Bill, have you ever thought about being a priest?” I was a bit shocked; yes, I had thought about
it a bit, but I would often push it away.
But if the priest is asking me this question, and if the priest is
acting in the person of Jesus, then maybe there’s something valid to consider. So while I still did what I could to push it away,
that question planted a seed in my life, and it led me to really thinking about
priesthood, entering into seminary, and now, here I am!
I see this as a particular way that the word of God entered
in, changing the direction of my life in such a beautiful way. And I believe that the Lord wants something
like this for all of us, not just once in a while but often through our own
prayer. When we allow his word to direct
our lives, we come to a deeper realization of his calling for us. We can open ourselves for this through
prayer, but one particular way that we can certainly encounter God’s word is
through confession. Yes, that dreaded moment of having to share all of our sins
with another person. But in reality,
it’s not simply with another person, it’s with the Lord Himself, who is truly
merciful and desires to lead us into deeper love. We have the opportunity to bring forward our
particular situation, our struggles and sins, and to allow the Lord to speak into
that through the counsel of the priest and the words of the prayer of
absolution. When the priest says, “I
absolve you of your sins,” it is Jesus speaking directly to you, and so often
I’ve experienced the peace that follows.
So I would encourage for all of us to take advantage of this great
opportunity at some point during Advent, whether during one of the scheduled
times here or even by scheduling something during the week. I know Father is more than willing to hear
confessions at any point, and I definitely look forward to doing so in a few
months, because it is Jesus who ultimately gives his mercy and power through
this sacrament.
So in this time period, in December of the year 2018, will
this be a time for all of us to receive the word of God? May it be so, that we may not be so caught up
in our daily schedules and distractions and forget that the Lord is looking
upon us. “And the Word of God comes to
the people of Immaculate Conception in Union.”
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