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Advent II

I know it will sound incredibly obvious, but Advent is a time of expectation. We are spending these four weeks expecting the coming of the Lord, at Bethlehem at Christmas, and at the Last Day, of which we heard a description in the Second Letter of St Peter.

But Advent is also the time for deeper reflection on this expectation to grow in knowledge of the Lord. It is a time to look at these foundational questions with fresh eyes: Who is it, really, that we are expecting? What exactly is it that we are expecting? How are we to carry out this “expecting” - after all, isn’t “expecting” more of an internal disposition rather than something we physically do?

So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace.

If one were to go by what advertising agencies want to tell us, then Christmas, and the preparation leading up to it, should be this “most wonderful time of the year”, full of peace, and warmth, and “festive spirit” (whatever they mean by that). This lovely, albeit slightly artificial image seems to sit rather at odds with what St Peter describes about what we expect at the end of days:

The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.

Hardly what you expect, doesn’t feel like the wonderful John Lewis adverts. And yet, St Peter finishes his teaching on Christian living with being at peace in the midst of expecting *this.*

In fact, based on his epistle, being at peace comes only when we live our lives “without spot or stain”. Personal holiness brings us peace. Sinless living brings us peace. Reconciliation to the Righteous Judge brings us peace. Living in the knowledge that all around us will fade away and be dissolved, and that at the end of our lives we will stand before the Judgement Seat of God to render account of our actions, and living wise lives as a result, will bring us peace.

How do we find that peace?

A voice cries, prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.

St John the Baptist’s aim and mission was to prepare people for that encounter with the Lord who is coming; to prepare them so they can meet God with that same peace.

It meant, as Isaiah prophesied, filling in every valley, laying low the mountains, making cliffs plain, ridges into valleys. To set things right. Where there is something lacking, to make up for it. Where there is excess, to act in restraint. Where there are things preventing God from coming to us, to remove those obstacles.

Our entire lives are an Advent expectation in a way: we live in constant expectation, as the Lord might return any moment, but our pilgrimage on this earth might end abruptly any day. Therefore it is important to reflect on these images in relation to our own lives:

Where are the low spots? What are the areas in my life that are falling short of what Christ expects us to be like, in what ways do I fail to live up to loving God and loving my neighbour, have I lived in a life contrary to what God revealed in his commandments to be truly good, have I transgressed God’s laws, have I failed to do what the Church teaches I should do? And then, to reflect on _how_ I will set those straight? How will I fill in the hole?
Where are the hills? Where are the areas in my life where I am excessive? Do I drink too much? Dare I ask - did I take drugs? What about my relationship to sex? To money and goods: do I spend way too much on myself while neglecting the poor? And actually, gluttony: while of course you can’t condone anyone for having a bar of chocolate, especially this time of the year, but it really can get excessive sometimes, can’t it?
What about the ridges and cliffs? The jagged edges? Have I been harsh to others, preventing them to finding their way to God through my life? Have I erected obstacles to prayer and receiving the Sacraments, preventing God to find His way to my life?

Now imagine NOT dealing with any of these issues. Imagine letting all these pile up. How would you have peace under the crushing weight of sin? Have you been in a situation when you let just one of these to take over: would you say you were truly at peace? If I am not at peace today, how can I expect that to change when Christ arrives, or I arrive to Christ? Just like with the lead-up to Christmas, if I spend it running around like a headless chicken, panicking over gifts and cooking and events and chasing after the “perfect Christmas” that they want to falsely sell me, it is hard to imagine I will have a peaceful Christmas.

St John the Baptist called people to repentance: to change their ways, to turn around, to be renewed in their mind. His baptism symbolised this submission of the totality of the person, a desire to be cleansed in our entirety. And while St John the Baptist could bring people to a place where they would see the damage of sin in their lives and have necessary sorrow over them, and a desire to change, his Baptism could not achieve what only Jesus can: actual _forgiveness_ in response to _repentance._ John’s baptism did not have the sacramental power of the baptism that the Church has.

St John the Baptist brought people to a place where they were at least aware that what they did was _wrong._ That in itself is a huge thing: there are so many you simply would not be able to convince that they should have a good look at their lives. But sorrow over sin does not in itself settle the debt. When we owe someone it is not enough to be very regretful that you owe them; the bank will still repossess your home.

Christ baptises with the Holy Spirit and Fire. Christ gives us sanctification and purges away the sin that we are sorrowing over. Christ’s touch brings forgiveness, the settling of debts. Christ’s touch brings us peace through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, whose power raised Jesus from the dead.

This is the Lord whom we are expecting: the prince of peace and the righteous judge. This is how we are waiting: through preparing the way for Him: both in our lives, and, once we are reconciled to God, we are to work for this to take place in the lives of others. So that when _what_ we are expecting - our End, when the Lord comes to us, - arrives, we may meet him in peace, and thus live with him in his peace in all eternity.