Change

T.         Isaiah, the prophet, figures prominently in Advent for obvious reasons.  Writing in the 8^th century before Christ, he’s famous for his Immanuel prophecy of messianic hope, a future kingdom of idyllic peace where, in his words: swords will be beaten into plowshares…., “the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.” Christians, of course, believe that his vision was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus.

According to today’s gospel from Matthew, Isaiah also envisioned the coming of John the Baptist, last of the Old Testament prophets: “It was of him (John) 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, herald of Christ and of the new messianic age, preached repentance, a radical change of heart and mind, urging believers to reorient their lives away from self toward God.

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G.        Scripture tells us that John the Baptist’s mission was to announce the dawning of Isaiah’s vision, but who among us can disagree that the peaceable kingdom is still far from reality.  Isn’t it ironic that the Holy Land, where Jesus was born, lived and died, is still wracked with violence, as are many other parts of the world, including the streets of our own center city.  What went so terribly wrong over the last two thousand years?  The answer, I think, is quite simple.  Too many haven’t heeded John’s call to repent.  Too many haven’t transformed their lives. Too many aren’t living the gospel of love.

Every day, but especially during Advent and Lent, you and I need to take a personal inventory and ask some probing questions.  Am I part of the problem or am I part of the solution?  Am I working on what needs to change in my life to help bring about the  peaceable kingdom?   Am I doing my part to remedy what’s wrong in the world?   We can’t expect to change the world, after all, without first changing ourselves.   But soul searching and effort to change is useless without hope.

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T.         Hope is another prominent Advent theme.  Hope that things can be better if, with God’s help, we work to change them.  The Baptist reminds us, for example, that we all need to pay close attention to those people in our lives that we may have neglected, or worse yet, abused,  perhaps, spouses, children, parents or friends. How have we loved them?  How have we failed to love them?

Too often we take those around us for granted giving them little, if any, attention.  We assume that they know we love them without ever actually telling or showing them.  Daily routines, concerns about work or school, habits, addictions often cause us to pay attention to less important matters at the expense of loved ones.  Attitudes are springboards of behavior.  To change the way we treat others we have to begin with our attitudes toward them.

Then, too, we need to examine the way we may have neglected our own selves. Are we physically out of shape? Overweight? Over indulgent? Do we drink too much… drink too often?  Do we take care of our physical and mental health?

Finally there’s the matter of spiritual health. We profess our faith in and love for Christ, but are these real or illusory.  Do our actions give substance to what we profess?  In John’s words, do we produce “good fruit” as evidence of our repentance?

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G.        Change can be unsettling.  Consider for example, long time Catholics who still pine for the traditional Latin mass, 40 plus years after Vatican II introduced mass in the vernacular.   Or those who still bristle when they see women in the pulpit or girls as altar servers.  Change can be disconcerting, but if you’re driving somewhere and make a wrong turn, you can’t just say “oops” and continue driving in the wrong direction. You have to turn around and get back on the right road or you’ll never reach your destination. You have to make changes, in other words, that make a difference.  And change demands going beyond merely expressing regret.

Tony and I realized many moons ago that the only constant in life is change and the only certainty is that without change there is no life.  Change admittedly is often hard on us all.    Take us (gesture) for example, Tony’s been retired now for close to a year.  Tell me, do you think it’s easy being married to a former judge with a fondness for rearranging furniture and reorganizing cupboards?   I married him for better or worse, but not for lunch!  (T. It’s not easy for me either, you know, nobody rises any more when I enter a room!)  But kidding aside, change is hard because there’s no guarantee that things will be better as a result of it.  The only real guarantee comes from living life close to God.  

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T.         Advent is all about change, hope and faith in a God who loves us enough to send us his only Son as our Savior.  If we receive the Son in our hearts and souls, not superficially but deep down within, the change required of repentance will, indeed, happen. Uncertainty will become certainty – certainty that the divine love abiding within will empower us to love God and each other as Jesus did when he walked the earth.

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G.        If enough people changed, as John the Baptist urged, then Isaiah’s vision of the peaceable kingdom will at long last become reality.   And peace on earth good will to all will be more than sentimental words of a traditional Christmas carol.

Gloria and Anthony Sciolino
December 9, 2007.  (Cycle A)
2nd Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10
Romans 15: 4-9
Matthew 3:1-12.