Word to the Wise
Sunday, December 14, 2008 - Third Sunday of Advent [Gaudete Sunday]
[Isaiah 61:1-2A, 10-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28]I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord......
This weekend I begin what is called a "parish mission" at St. Gregory Parish in San Antonio, TX. The "theme" of the mission is "Make straight the way of the Lord!" I can't say that I will be preaching in a geographic "desert" but I am confident that the good People of God in St. Gregory Parish are like most of us. We need to do some path-straightening, especially in Advent, when all the challenges of getting through the season that for all intents and purposes lasts till New Year's! We are all called to be prophetic AND to hear the prophetic word of God in whatever way it comes to us. The first two scriptures for this Sunday suggest different ways we can do this. Isaiah's majestic words, which Jesus himself used as a kind of "platform" in his words to his hometown folks in Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry (cf. Luke 4:18-19), suggest that we bring "glad tidings to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives and release to prisoners and announce a year of favor from the Lord!" Those are rather challenging things to consider, but I think all of us know someone who fits in those categories in some way. It may even be us! St. Paul, in the second scripture of the day, challenges us to "rejoice always, to give thanks" We are not to "quench the Spirit or to despise prophetic utterances." We are to "test everything, retain what is good and refrain from every kind of evil." Again these are challenging words in a very busy season. It is not easy to straighten a path. Sometimes well-traveled paths exist because they offer the least resistance! Sometimes they are what they are because they are wise ways. Discerning these requires a serious moment or two, but the words of Isaiah and Paul above give us some directions for discerning those paths. Do our paths avoid those difficult challenges by going around them? Perhaps we need to straighten ourselves out in that regard. Most of us will recall Dickens' famous Christmas story about how Scrooge had his life turned around in a very difficult series of visions. Perhaps the "spirits" of Isaiah, Paul and John the Baptist are knocking at our door. Dare we say, "Bah! Humbug!"? AMEN
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