Sunday
3 Advent (C-2006): Be Prepared ... for Mass
Read
Lk 3: 10-18
If John the Baptist had let popularity go to
his head, and claimed that he was indeed the Christ, he would have become ... an anti-Christ.
But he did not exploit
people’s expectations or the wondering of their hearts as to whether or not he was the Christ.
He was neither an
impostor nor an opportunist.
On the contrary, he
is unequivocal in “decreasing” so that Christ “might increase.”
In stating so clearly
that one mightier than he was coming after him, he humiliates himself in admitting: “I baptize you with water ... He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
This attitude of John and this truth about his
being simply a forerunner of the true Messiah ought to be the attitude and truth of everyone who teaches the Catholic faith,
especially of the priest.
In the words of St.
Paul, “It is not ourselves that we preach, but Jesus Christ, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.”
This statement holds
true also for parents, school teachers and anyone else who imparts the Gospel to others.
We are all “John
the Baptists”; we are all, in our own way, supposed to prepare the way for those we teach to meet the living Jesus,
to experience the power of his fire and of his Holy Spirit.
We step forward to
proclaim him; then we must step back so that he may come and take center stage.
People seek Christ,
the Christ who comes and who prepares his way by sending us those he appoints as teachers in his own name.
Perhaps we could therefore
say that Advent is a permanent reality in human life. Christ is always coming.
We are always preparing
or being prepared, preparing others and being prepared by others, to meet the tender mercy of our God who comes to visit us
like the dawn from on high in the One who is the delight of the Father’s heart, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living
God.
Note how, in today’s Gospel, the crowds
ask John the Baptist, “what should we do?”
They did not take a “Platonic interest” in John’s preaching.
They did not consider him a performer and themselves an audience.
They were open to him from their hearts.
No pseudo-sophistication.
No congenital or compulsive questioning.
They were open to
him with their freedom, because they were ready to use their freedom to do what
John’s teaching proposed.
They were willing
to lay their lives on the line.
Among those crowds
are ordinary people, tax collectors and soldiers – the citizenry, the government and the military!
They respond to the
urgency of John’s message with an urgency about their own moral lives.
For the question,
“what should we do?”, is a question about action, and action is about morality.
They know that it
is not enough to listen to the message and not act on it. That would be not to expect Christ to come.
Instead, they detect
in John the imminence of Christ’s coming, and they want to be ready, to be worthy to stand before him and not to hide
in shame.
Similarly, when the
priest preaches, his desire is not just to recite some irrelevant and inert formulae.
He may use oratory,
but it is not oratory that people seek or need.
He may perform well,
but it is not performance that matters.
Rather, it is to stir
in his listeners come consequential action, the urgency to be more ready to receive Christ. It is to impress upon his hearers
the compellingness of the truth of the Gospel, to seek reaction and action, to cause profound shifts of mentality and attitude,
away from the easy idolatries of our all too brief existence, and towards the living, loving and majestic Christ.
And Christ always
comes after his preachers have spoken.
Sometimes he comes
as they speak; sometimes later on.
But come he does;
come he will.
The question for each
of us is: am I ready to recognize him, to welcome him?
Naturally, a willingness to act must be preceded
by a willingness truly to listen to the priest.
True listening is
not easy, for a whole host of reasons: fatigue, depression, anxiety, temptation, boredom and the rest.
What does this imply?
I think it is clear
that before coming to Mass, people need to take time, indeed need to cultivate the discipline, of preparing themselves.
Now, I know that if
you have young children, it is already a miracle that you get them here at all. So I am not expecting your two-year olds to
spend time meditating before they come to Mass.
But, let us be honest.
Not all of us have
young families.
Many, if not most,
of us could, if we really wanted, take time out quietly to prepare to listen to the Word of God and to the explanation of
it which the priest will try to give.
What do I mean by
preparation?
Let me focus on two
dimensions.
The first dimension is to recall what the Mass
is, why it is.
Thus, I should seek
to arouse my awareness that at Mass I am recalling Christ’s death and Resurrection, and not just recalling it, but actually
participating in it.
I am actually going
to the Last Supper, to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to Pentecost and, yes, to heaven itself where Christ is seated at God’s
right hand.
I am going to participate
in that event which saved humanity, history and creation from destruction.
I am going to partake
mystically in the very core of the church’s life and meaning.
As Pope Benedict put
it recently, the Eucharist is the core of the cosmos and of history.
We should all know
at least what the Catechism teaches about the Mass, reading and re-reading it, absorbing it as rich doctrinal food that shapes
our way of thinking, acting and feeling.
If I don’t even
think of this, or worse, don’t know it, how can I expect to “pep-talk” myself into deep and loving desires
to hear God speak and to receive the Love of his Heart in Holy Communion? How will I realize that the Mass is the core of
my personal cosmos and history?
The second dimension refers to my own inner
life.
What state of mind
and soul am I in?
This is a matter of
being truly in touch with what is going on in my own heart and soul.
In other words, being
aware as fully as I can of what it is I am bringing to the Mass in all its profundity, so that I might be helped, healed,
renewed, encouraged.
We ought to take time
to make an examination of conscience.
What in me is not
compatible with God?
What attitudes are
not worthy of one who has been baptized into Christ and the Church?
What is my life-style
saying about my faith?
Is my morality truly
Christian or is it secularized or pagan?
So, in other words,
we should be taking a look not just at the rights and wrongs of specific behaviors.
In some sense, that
is easy.
But we should also
be looking at what winds are blowing in our conscious life.
What path am I plotting
for myself by the way I live, the attitudes, the impulses and the preferences I show?
So our preparation
for Mass should have that doctrinal element, remembering what the Mass is, and that element of personal examination which
from time to time should also lead to the sacrament of confession.
I am fully aware that there is another important
factor in a fruitful participation in the Mass, so that one can truly listen to the Word of God and benefit from it by experiencing
the closer coming of Jesus.
I mean the priest’s
own preparation for Mass and execution of his part in it.
That is probably something
best summed up by the old saying, “Priest of God, celebrate every Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass,
your only Mass.”
But if the priest
should not do so, and I beat my own breast on that one, it does not mean that the Word of God will not reach you, or that
your preparation is not necessary or that it is wasted.
The weakness of the
priest is no obstacle for the Messiah or for the fire and Holy Spirit he brandishes in his right hand.
So, please, let my
poor words to you today reach deep into your hearts and wills.
In the joyous urgency
of Advent may we feel moved to the core of our being to ask as once the people at the Jordan asked, “What must I do?”
Before you come to
Mass, that is, “prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
Msgr. Peter Magee
Sunday, December 17th, 2006
Annunciation, DC: 7.30 am
