During Advent, we hear a lot about St. John the Baptist. He is the one who prepared the way for the Lord. His message was simple: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” His life was a challenging one. He wore rough clothes, lived in the desert, and was hated by many. His life was so hard and challenging, that the Gospels tell us of a moment of doubt St. John the Baptist had in prison, sending some disciples to ask our Lord, “are You He who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
This message is no less important today than it was 2000 years ago, and it is no less important for us than it was for the ancient people of Judea. Because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and we do need to repent. It would be a mistake to not use this time of year to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord. Christ was born and he has saved us, but we have to do the work of opening our hearts to him and following his will. This is hard work, and so St. Paul tells us that, “Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Scripture reminds us of the goodness of God, of his truthfulness, of his justice, and of his faithfulness. God, who created the universe, loves us and created us in his image. He made us each uniquely and wonderfully. He created us for communion with Him, but in Eden we turned away from him. When the power of sin entered the world, not only did it bring death and so many other sufferings into the world, but it also clouded our ability to see our Father in Heaven who loves us. Sin clouds our memories, making it hard for us to remember the good things God has done for us and for those we love. Sin clouds our wills, making it challenging to stay resolute in doing the good, because the good is hard and our wills are, often, lazy. So, among many other gifts God has given us through his Church, He has given us the Scriptures to help us see him, remember him, and follow him.
This task is hard enough when we are called to follow God ourselves, but our task does not end there. What have we been called to do? We hear our Lord say in St. John’s Gospel:
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
After an incredible proclamation of the great love that Christ has for us, he then tells us what we must do to remain in that love, to return that love: “love one another as I love you.” And he reminds us of the potential stakes, which the apostles have not yet witnessed but which we already know: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
The Son came to this world to rescue us from sin and death, to renew a fallen humanity, and to transform the kingdom of this world into the kingdom of God. This is how he loved us, and he calls us to love one another in this way too. St. Paul writes in today’s epistle, “Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I say that Christ became a minister […] so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.”
The greatest mercy we can have on another person is not to avoid bring up hard topics. It is not to challenge them. It is to invite them to walk with us on the road of repentance that leads us back to the Father who loves us and creates us. We are called to rescue our brothers and sisters from the lies that they believe about themselves, about their sins, and about this world. We are called to renew the human family around us by bringing the grace of God to them to refresh their souls. We are called to transform the face of this earth so that the words of the prophet Isaiah become true, as crazy as they might sound:
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
We are called to be lights to all the world, to be beacons of hope, to be the leaven that helps all of humanity to rise up and turn away from sin. This is our task, it is the mission of every single one of us. How do we start?
Always with prayer. Turn to Christ. Ask him for help. Open your heart to him. Ask him to live more fully in you every day. Ask him to open your heart more to his love and grace every day. Ask him to show you the way forward.
During Advent, we prepare to celebrate the coming of our king, but you see, he is already here. The Almighty has done great things for us, and he has called us to be his instruments and to go out and do great things for all around us.