8 Dec 24, Sunday Week 2 Advent C The Present-day Coming of Christ

Baruch 5,1-9. Psalm 126(125); Phil 1,4-6.8-11; Luke 3,1-6.

Last Sunday, St Luke took us to the Second Coming of Christ- the Future Advent. Today, the Second and next week, the Third Sundays of Advent present us with the Present Time Coming of Christ.

John the Baptist’s cry in the desert, in the wilderness, is a call to order: make straight the winding path, make smooth the rough ways. This takes us back to the time of Creation when God called chaos into order. And deeper than physical order, the Baruch prophesies the removal of the robe of mourning and misery, the unburdening of the heart of distress.

The Lord’s present-day coming re-orders our life. To welcome the Lord is to welcome better ways of relating with Him, with others and with ourselves! St Benedict exhorts that we welcome everyone as Christ. Thus, in our present day, there is no lack of Advent – of Christ’s coming! We encounter Christ in Liturgy. At this Eucharist, 4 times welcome Him: in the Proclamation of the Word, in the Sacred Species of His Body and Blood, in the priest-celebrant, and in everyone here gathered. Jesus himself said, where 2 or 3 are gathered, there am I in their midst.

We welcome Christ in the needy: He himself said that whatever we do to the least of our brethren, we do it to him. But notice too how we switch roles from the one who welcomes to the one who is welcomed. Indeed, we too experience needfulness, grief over losses, distress, and anxieties over struggles.

St Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians, expresses joy over the good works that Christ himself has begun in us and enabled us to do. St Paul prays that we continue to be fruitful in righteousness that we receive in welcoming Christ!

Such is Advent in the present-day. We can keep track of how we continue to grow in our capacity to welcome God-with-us, our capax Dei.

Do you notice how marketing schemes call us to upgrades? Have you imagined how many times Dr. Evans Road that cuts through our Mepkin property had undergone upgrades? This road has gone through a lot of improvement. I imagine it to be just a foot trail that the Native Americans cleared hundreds of years ago, then widened for horse travel. Soon it was a significant road called Strawberry Ferry Road for horse-drawn carriages leading to the ferry port at the bank of Cooper River in the time of Henry Laurens who founded the Mepkin Plantation. Then more than half a century ago this road was renamed Dr. Evans Road to honor the prominent African American doctor who lived along this road, in the time that Clare Boothe Luce and Henry Luce donated this property that became Mepkin Abbey. Now it is a well-paved asphalt road that continues to conduct people to many destinations. Yes, the road has seen significant improvements for the benefit of commuters. If the Pope were to go through this road, I bet even the roadside would be decorated. This is the image that John gives us: that we need to pave the road that would conduct the Lord to us. How cleared, leveled, and paved is this path of our person for receiving Christ our Lord in each other?

Let us take time to recall and thank the people who through the years had been like John to us- pointing out how we can grow to welcome Christ.

Corollary to this challenge that John exhorts us to is how we also take up the task of accompanying others in also preparing the road that Christ would take to reach them. God forbid that we become the source of what clutters their lives, their minds, and hearts.

Another level of challenge that John presents us is the dynamics of proclaiming and listening. And at this point in our life, what and whom do we listen to? For what? How much attention and significance do we give to what and whom we listen to? Would they lead us to welcome Christ? What movement of the mind and heart do they harken us to?

What wilderness do we find ourselves in where we hear John beckoning to us? From what wilderness do we need to accompany others out? What Good News do we bring to all the pains, fears, desolation, and anxieties all around us? How do we make the Good News of our faith relevant to what bothers the world? Why does bad news seem to proliferate more easily? Now we know how badly the Good News of God’s Kingdom is needed right now!

The Lord comes to comfort us and He emboldens us to join in proclaiming His coming. With the Psalmist we plead that the Lord show us his kindness and grant us His salvation. As St Paul prayed in his Letter, may our love increase ever more, and may we be found without spot or blemish to always welcome Christ who comes every day, every moment …