L. da Vinci: St. John the Baptist
3rd Sunday of Advent: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/121612.cfm
Zeph
3:14-18a
Ph
4: 4-7Lk 3: 10-18
The
peering questions asked of John the Baptist by the crowds, the tax collectors,
and soldiers in this Sunday’s Gospel, I think hits at the center of our
preparation for Christmas: “What should we do?”
Send
more Christmas cards? Buy more
presents? Add more lights on the house?
Throw another party? Bake more cookies and fruitcake? What should we do in
order to prepare? Notice the Baptist’s answers:
“Whoever
has two cloaks should share . . . whoever has food should do likewise . . .
Stop collecting more than what is prescribed . . . Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied . . .” (Lk 3: 10-18).
What
about all these “should’s” and “do not’s?” It seems we must remember the
fundamental call of John in the desert to conversion and a change of heart and
mind. It was a call to set a new
direction in life and to adopt a new moral framework for behavior.
If
I do not do something, then I should do something else. In order to
truly level the mountains, fill the valleys, and make straight the way, as John
metaphorically preached, then I must set things right and seek proper justice
between myself, God, and others.
Reconciliation is the process by which we seek that justice and what
strikes me is that John’s response to those who sought “what should we do” was
to say: repair what is broken, bring things back to proper balance and order,
be fair and not greedy at other’s expense, and make ready the way for the Lord - "That's what you should do."
Surely,
the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a right place to find the Lord’s forgiveness
and to reestablish that justice – the right order of things – between ourselves,
God and our neighbor.
Such
good balance and order help us to live the words of St. Paul in our second
reading from Philippians: “Rejoice in
the Lord always. I shall say it again:
rejoice! . . .” (Ph 4:4).
More
to come . . .
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