A Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Advent

+ “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
 
With these words of St Luke, the Church succinctly recalls to us the basic realities of Advent—indeed, the basic realities of the Christian call to that conversion of life whereby we, in our fleshly, earthly existence, are come to experience and fruitfully to live from the salvation of God made possible through the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amidst they busyness of these final days of Advent, they provide us with a great deal upon which to ponder and contemplate. Crooked paths must be made straight. Valleys and hills must be levelled. Rough ways must be made smooth. The way must be prepared so that the Lord may come without any difficulty or obstacle.
 
This is indeed the work of the conversion of life that we must each embrace.
 
At certain points in our life, particularly when we are young and the passions can reign unbridled (indeed encouraged by all that is about us in the world or that almost seeks us out through technology) this conversion may require decisive, if not seemingly dramatic steps. We must turn away from a crooked life of sin and begin to walk the straight path that leads to the salvation of God. We must make the choice so do to, and we must make that choice without delay.
 
There also comes that moment in life when, in order to embrace my vocation—be that to married or other lay vocations, monastic, religious or clerical life—I must sacrifice even legitimate pleasures in order to follow the disciplined path Our Lord has prepared for me from all eternity. This conversion, from what is acceptable to what is truly good, can in some ways be more difficult, as it is all too easy to hide from God’s call in familiar and comfortable circumstances.
 
So too, at different moments in our life when we come to recognise that we have made and lived according to the choices that are sinful, we must make the rough ways smooth again—beginning now!—so that the Lord may come to us unimpeded and bring us His salvation, without which we are all lost forever.
 
It may even be that, in our increasingly secularised world, we have lived without being aware of the necessity of God’s salvation; in which case, upon realising its reality, we have much work to do in preparing our hearts and minds so that they may rejoice in it and walk in His ways.
 
And it may be that, as we grow older, with the burdens and particular sufferings that entails, we encounter new temptations and find ourselves in dark valleys where the light of faith seems to be dimmed. By our perseverance in hope we must fill these valleys, so that the Lord can come to us also at this most important time of life.
 
No matter what our circumstances, indeed no matter how much sin our past or present entails, the Church calls us today to that conversion of life that is necessary so as to know God’s salvation. There is no place here, or anywhere in the Gospel, for that prurient, pharasaical, puritanical mumuring that so often trades in whispered calumnies and anonymous detractions. No, in the Gospel there is simply the clarion call to prepare the way for the Lord—today, in your life and in mine—so that His salvation may come to us, and through us, through our renewed and purified living of our vocation to holiness, that it may reach others also.
 
Indeed, St Gregory the Great taught us at matins this morning that: “the conscience of each [person] is bound to acquire through penance so much the greater riches of good works the more serious the losses it has brought upon itself through its own fault.” Have I sinned? Then I must repent, confess, and do penance. I must work assiduously to repair the damage I have done by building up the Kingdom of God through faithful and fruitful perseverance in my vocation—be that in the world, in the family, in a parish, a diocese, a convent or even a monastery.  
 
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
 
In these rich last days of Advent let the message of these uncompromising words motivate us to do all that which is necessary, so that we can know and see the salvation of God ever more fruitfully and clearly in the coming feast. For the humility and the resolution to do that which is necessary, let us beg Almighty God at His altar this morning. +