Prepare the way!

II Sunday of Advent "A" Matthew 3:1-12 John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. John wore clothing made of camel's hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

In Advent the key word is "prepare" Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. The truth is we are in a time of preparations. In church it is called advent, and it started last Sunday and will end on the 24th, in the world it is called shopping and it began on "Black Friday" the day after thanksgiving and it also ends with December 24. But outside of the dates coinciding the two times could not be more different. This time of "shopping" has its main figure, Santa Claus, and all the stores are full of offers. The internet too, Amazon and all the rest offer us many places to buy and buy some more. The truth is we can buy everything, maybe finding the best deals, but with all this we will never be ready, we will never be prepared. The church offers us a very different preparation. Instead of saying, "buy" the church says "prepare" and the Advent figures are John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary. John calls us to prepare, and the virgin teaches us how to prepare. Instead of Santa dressed in red saying "ho, ho, ho," and eating cookies, John calls out "Prepare the way!" he is dressed in camel hair eats grasshoppers. We understand the word buy and with credit we don't even have to have money. But what does it mean to "prepare?" John explains it very well in the gospel. He invited people to baptism and confession of their sins. Baptism in John the Baptist's time was quite different from our understanding of baptism. It was not a ritual for children, rather baptism was for adults, and it was a call to conversion. Baptism still has this meaning, but we have forgotten it. Baptism as confession of sins means the desire to change, to be different. We recognize that we are imperfect but the emphasis is not only on sin, but the desire to be different, to change to be a better person. We still have the opportunity to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation, and if you have not gone to confession since Lent I invite you to go to confession. And I don't want you to think, "I can't confess" come to confession with the desire to change and together with the priest you can decide if you can receive absolution for your sins. The second key person in Advent is the Virgin Mary. And how good that we have the opportunity to celebrate the Virgin with the celebration of our Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe. The virgin spoke to Juan Diego saying, "do not be afraid." But in the Gospel the Virgin does not speak to us. She, like her image, teaches us how to wait. It's something that women in our community can teach us, especially those who are or were once pregnant. What does a pregnant woman have to do? Well, wait. The nine months are extremely important. You don't want the baby to be born premature. No, you want the child to be born full term after 9 months. If you are pregnant, you can only wait, wait in silence. And for those who are poor and the immigrants in this country they have so much to wait for. We understand very well that we have to wait and Our Lady teaches us how. So in this time that is left for Advent spend time listening to John and watching Mary.