Homily 3rd Sunday of Advent – 15th December 2024

For the last few weeks, the Gospel has practically trumpeted out the words of St. John the Baptist, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make ready his path.” Those are words which can stir up is us a sense of excitement. They are words which seem to call the people to great acts of heroism, fantastic achievements. John uses the images, “level the mountains, fill in the valleys, straighten out all the curves.” Literally, change the world, make it new.

And there is something about a challenge that great, with rewards that great, that is very attractive to most people. We find ourselves ready to say, “Yes, lets get started. How do we do these fantastic things?”

But so often, when we begin to hear the answer to that question, it all becomes a good deal less adventurous. Because the way in which we are called to do all of these exciting things, levelling mountains and filling in valleys, is really not very exciting at all.

In the Gospel, some of the people ask John, “What are we to do?” And John’s answer, after the imagery of his earlier call, seems very uninspired, even dull. He says to one, “Share your wealth.” To another – a tax collector – “Charge only what the law allows. Treat people justly.”

To some soldiers he says, “Don’t push people around. Don’t misuse your authority. Treat people more kindly. Be content with your wages.”

If we respond to John’s challenge, if we seek a great cause, we need to look no further than our own daily lives and the thousand and one small unexciting, sometimes even irritating challenges that face each one of us everyday.

It is by meeting these, over and over again, with patience, with justice, and with love, that we made ready the way of the Lord.

A week ago, the Church observed the feast of the immaculate conception of Mary. In that Gospel passage, we heard Mary described by the angel Gabriel as ‘Full of Grace’. And so she was. And there was greatness for her in that. Well, so can we be full of grace. Whatever it may be that makes up our lives, in our families, schools, jobs, parishes, communities, in all of it, there is greatness for us, if we live it gracefully.

The goal of changing the world is a real one. The adventurous and challenging imagery that is used in the Gospel is not deceptive. It pictures a real world that is truly possible, and that must be remembered because without it life can be robber of its purpose. Life can cease to be an Advent, and the way of the Lord gets closed down.

Our Advent lives are a mixture , a mixture of a vision of the future and a determination to make the present the best, the most grace filled it can possibly be.

Fr. Andrew