Some Thoughts and Some Music on an Advent Sunday - 4
This year we're going traditional for our Sunday thoughts during Advent.
We're doing that by referencing the Gospel for each of the four Sunday's
of Advent, in order. These four Gospels were always repeated, every
year, from the time of the Council of Trent in the 16th century, until
post-Vatican II. The provide a clear path for our journey through this
Holy Season as we prepare ourselves for Christmas.
The Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent is a short one: Luke 3:1-6.
Like last week's Gospel, it focuses on John the Baptist. In returning to
John this week, we understand the central role John the Baptist in salvation history.
Our Lord called him the greatest of the prophets. He is also the last
in that line. God has sent no other prophets after John the Baptist. His
life and work sums up that of all the other prophets. In other Gospel
passages, we see John immediately recognize Him. Despite the zeal John
had for his own work, he immediately announces that his work must
decrease, as Jesus increases.
In today's passage, the first thing that strikes us is the precision
with which St. Luke introduces John and his work. He locates him in an exact moment in time and at an exact place, as well as identifying his parental lineage.
Now in the fifteenth year of the
reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of
Iturea, and the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of
Abilina; Under the high priests Annas and Caiphas; the word of the Lord
was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert.
St. Luke not only establishes John's credibility, but his own as well.
His references would be well known to his audience at the time. They
also help subsequent generations to understand that he's writing about
concrete reality, not some story someone made up. Why do I mention this?
Well, the typical "modern" sensibility - especially these days -
downplays or pooh-poohs the reality of historical events as recounted in
the Bible, particularly events recounted in the Gospels. Heck, the head
of the Jesuits recently said we really can't rely on the accuracy of
the words attributed to Jesus in the Gospels; after all, there were no
voice recorders at the time (one of the more irresponsible, outrageous,
and moronic claims I've ever come across!).
Having established the credibility of his story, he follows with the
words of St. John the Baptist himself. The reference to Isaias reminds
us of St. John's Gospel last week. But there's a bit more detail in St.
Luke's reporting:
And he came into all the country
about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of
sins; As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the
prophet: A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled; and
every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be
made straight; and the rough ways plain; And all flesh shall see the
salvation of God.
In these final days of the Holy Season of Advent, we don't need to
concern ourselves with how we might know whether St. John said exactly
these words. The odds are, he did. How do we know? Well, St. John was
the person about whom Isaias was speaking centuries before. St. John the
Baptist was indeed the one who would prepare "the way of the Lord." St.
Luke's Gospel clearly verifies this.It all fits together, doesn't it?
What we might wonder, though, is whether our lives prepare the way of the Lord. Considering our daily thoughts, words, and actions, we ask ourselves: Do these make straight His paths?
But didn't St. John already make straight His paths? He did. So what's
left for us to do? To answer this, consider: By the action of His
baptism by St. John in the Jordan River, Our Lord took Himself from the
obscurity of His life in Nazareth with Joseph and Mary, and manifested
His presence before all of Israel and eventually the world.
The key word here is "eventually." The manifestation of the Lord may have begun with His Baptism in the Jordan River, but it didn't end there.
It didn't even end with Passion, Death, and Resurrection. It continued
with the Apostles. From there, it continues to this day with the
spreading of the Good News by His Bride, the Holy Catholic Church.
People die, people are born. Many of those alive now don't know Our
Lord. So we who are part of His Mystical Body in the Church are called
continue that same work begun with the water poured on His Sacred Head
by St. John the Baptist. Each of us does this in his or her own way: We
teach our children about our Holy Religion and help them learn to love
the Lord; our words and actions serve as an example to them. We're not
afraid to declare - when called upon - our Catholic faith. Maybe some of
us are called to directly defend our faith, even become martyrs.
Whatever it might be, we're open to our particular calling as a member
of the Body of Christ.
So in these waning days of Advent we continue to wait. We pray. We
sacrifice. Doing so we prepare the way of the Lord, we make straight His
paths. May we continue to do so throughout the New Year.
Our final selection from the Messiah before Christmas: "For Unto Us a
Child is Born." Let the words sink in and open our hearts to the day of
His birth and the day of His return. Rejoice! He is coming!
We conclude with that simple aspiration we've used to end all our posts during Advent over the years.
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