We have begun the good work of living the spirit of Advent with trust, hope, and love. Today we are reminded by St. Paul to persevere in this praiseworthy undertaking. John the Baptist is our trusted guide in the all-important work of our spiritual renewal in preparation for the commemoration of Christ’s birth.
And to prepare the way for the Lord is to make straight the winding roads of our moral uncertainties and inconsistencies; to fill up the ravines of our past shortcomings and failings; and to level down the peaks of our pride and arrogance.
And as we are engaged in this work of “spiritual landscaping,” our love for God and neighbor should increase ever more, that we may be found pure and blameless at the coming of our Lord.
Let this be our main concern in these days and the special intention for which we offer the Eucharistic sacrifice we are about to begin.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
