A Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent

+ Parallel to last week’s collect that God should enliven His Power and come, this week we beseech Him to enliven our hearts to prepare the ways of His Only Begotten Son. Both requests reflect our utterly hopeless situation when isolated from the power and goodness of God, without Whom we are nothing. Yet together there stands the realisation that God will often operate through His chosen vessel to enact, to show forth His power. There is neither presumption nor pride in allowing the “Power of the Holy Ghost” to shine forth in our works. On the contrary, it requires a profound humility to realise Who is the active agent in the great works that can be accomplished.

St Benedict, in the prologue to the holy Rule, teaches his monks that they must serve God “with the gifts that He has given us” even above the meagre rooting out of sin. These works, nonetheless, must be undertaken surrounded by prayer that God, Who began the good work in us, should bring them to perfection (Philippians 1:6). It is, however, only possible to persevere in the good works that God has inspired in us if we genuinely seek God. On the other hand, refusing to take up the plough, or worse, turning away from that which has been begun, is to stray “by the sloth of disobedience.” Never are we promised an easy lot whilst awaiting the glory for which we hope.

Often it is not easy to recognise if a work comes from God or oneself. St Benedict even goes so far as to quote the Scripture stating that “there are ways which to men seem right, but the ends thereof lead to the depths of hell” (ch. 7). Such phrases can never be used as a justification to do nothing, but rather impel us to examine further the wisdom of God as transmitted through the riches of the Church’s tradition. Within this tradition a prominent role is played by seven gifts of the Holy Ghost which can transcend normal boundaries when something is truly necessary. The gifts play, nonetheless, a fundamental part in our undertaking God’s work.

Preparation of the ways of the Lord is the demand that is made upon us at every moment. Many are the Scriptural acts wherein an example is given. Perhaps the most prominent is the mission of John the Baptist in the desert, yet he is far from alone. Our Lord also sends the seventy-two before Him around Judea in order to prepare for His coming to each town, yet He admonishes them that if they should not be accepted in a town, they are to brush the dust off their feet in departing. This is not a defeatism but a realism about the nature of their task. Many seek only to fight against the Gospel, and nothing will convince them of the truth. Where nothing is of any avail, we are to move on to those who are ready to listen and engage in the search for the truth. Never, however, can the truth be compromised to make listeners feel comfortable, even if discretion is necessary so as to avoid the overdose of giving everything at once. Truth and clarity must ever remain the guiding principles.

The first of the ways of Our Lord that each of us needs to prepare is that of our own heart. We can do nothing without cultivating the solid virtues of the Christian life, lived in a supernatural awareness. We must know and be easily able to occupy ourselves with acts corresponding to the mission of preparing the ways of the Lord that stands before each one of us. St Augustine regards the pairs of disciples sent out before the Lord to prepare His ways as each being the two wings of charity. Love of God and love of neighbour.

Such charity must be enlivened by the power of the Holy Ghost, which can never be filled with the spirit of sloth or cowardice. Throughout the liturgy of Advent we are urged into a renewed action an awareness that the time to act is now, and is easily missed. This is the requirement of humility: that we push forward with the time that we are given to do good, and not neglect anything. +

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