Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The second part of Advent, which starts on December 17th always helps me, especially the carols: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I hope that He comes quickly. I yearn for him to come now without delay. Come, Lord, to my life because without you I am nothing and my life makes no sense. This second part of Advent focuses on the immediate preparation for the birth of Jesus in his first coming; the first part is our preparation for the Second Coming at the end of time. The Lord is coming to look for you today since I am sad or distressed or I have this problem in the house or with the family or with the job. Lord, I need you to come.
This is a wonderful word where Saint John the Baptist is the protagonist. He is the one who is preaching the baptism of conversion. Did you know that John the Baptist is Advent? This is true because he is the one who helps us prepare for the coming of the Lord. If there is a figure that represents Advent, it’s John the Baptist and we are called to be like him. We can announce to the world that the Lamb of God is here, and he takes away the sin of the world. In fact, he doesn’t just say it; he shouts it. Where is he? In the desert! And who listens to him in the desert? No one. He is a voice crying in the wilderness but why is he crying out in the desert. Should he not cry out in Jerusalem, in the Temple which is much more crowded, and the people are in a greater need. There are the unfortunate people like the high priest, the Scribes and the Pharisees who especially need to convert, and to convert today.
It is very symbolic and very beautiful that he would go out to the desert to announce conversion because in the desert there is nothing. The Lord will come today to look at what is in your life and mine, and perhaps there is nothing, nothing going on. There may be a lot of stones, there is sand and loneliness and there is no way to live in the desert. How can one live in the desert? It is not possible to live there.
Do you see that in some ways because you don’t know the meaning of your life and the problems you have in the middle of the desert. The word today comes to say, convert, but not as a demand. It is not a requirement because God never demands anything from us. God tells us to convert through the preaching of John the Baptist or through whatever priest or catechist God has sent into your life.
It is not a demand because God is the one who can change you today because conversion is always a gift of God. What is conversion? It is to let yourself be loved once and for all by the Lord. How beautiful is that: let yourself be loved. The Lord says, I come to love you so let me love you. But many times, we resist because we think we don’t need this love. We think that we need other things, and you don’t want to waste time on something for someone else. To allow yourself to be loved by the Lord, once and for all. How beautiful is conversion for me. Someone said, “I am coming to love you, really to love you”, but often we resist. This time of Advent is a true time of waiting, and watching.
The Lord will come but you need to wait for him, to yearn for him and you will do so when you believe that your life is really a desert. When life is a desert, you need him to come to you. Let the voice come and enter you. This Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. The word is Christ, and we need Christ to come to our life. Your poverty is necessary for you to experience that you need the Lord. When you don’t drink any water, are you not thirsty? If you don’t eat, aren’t you hungry? The Lord doesn’t want to force himself upon you. If we hope for him, then he will come to us always with great power; he always comes with strength to help us.
See how the gospel ends, “All flesh shall see the saving power of God.” Does it mean all will be taken, will be caught? No way, because there is freedom, which is something wonderful and that is why not all of us are saved. We don’t know who will be saved and let us hope in God’s infinite mercy that all will be. We pray that when he comes, he finds us loving. Hell exists, brothers and sisters, and we can be condemned. This is a great mystery, but God condemns no one, but you can condemn yourself if you don’t want this love. God does not force you to love him. He doesn’t force you to let yourself be loved by him, either. You are free to go away like the prodigal son and the Father will be waiting for you whenever you want to come back.
He always tells us, ‘I will be with you always, I will always love you and be looking for you.’ See how the gospel ends: prepare the way of the Lord. How do we do this? It says in the gospel, make straight his paths, every valley will be filled in and will be equal to every mountain. Are there some proud people here? Yes, all of us and I am the first one. Like the mountains and hills, we will be lowered by humility. We cannot receive the Lord without humility. The house the Lord wants to dwell in is a humble house.
He was not born in a five-star hotel, but in a manger, among animals, in the midst of garbage. Our manger looks very beautiful with nice straw and a clean donkey, with a mule and an ox. The baby Jesus is clean and well cared for. The Virgin Mary has perfect make-up, and you can’t tell that she just gave birth. St. Joseph is so happy to have a son who is not his.
What is a manger? It is a place with animals who don’t use a restroom to relieve themselves. When they raise their tails, you need to watch out because it is like a jet. This is life in a manger, in a cave with animals. The Lord wants to dwell in humility, in a horrible place. The crooked will be made straight by the Lord. He will straighten the rough road that is in your marriage. He doesn’t know how to treat his wife because anything she says, he gives her a dirty look. You don’t know how to tell your husband that you love him because he makes another face. He is proud and arrogant, and you can’t say anything. The Lord is coming to smooth out this marriage. In a marriage it is either heaven or hell, one of the two. If it is heaven, there is love for one another, forgiveness, understanding. Heaven is to live thinking of the other and of the children. It is a wonderful mission.
My mission is different but I am also called to love, to prepare the way, to die for the other so that when the Lord comes he will find us loving and that all flesh will see the salvation of God. If you believe this today Christ has the power to make this happen. He can make you a new man or a new woman. He can make you a man or woman who loves, who is simple. He is preparing us for the test, which will come later. He will come to look for you and to look for your fruit. Will he find bitter fruit or sweet fruit?
Let the Lord love us, brothers and sisters. He will do all the work in spite of us and our sins and weaknesses.