Today we light the second candle in our Advent wreath, known as the Bethlehem Candle. As I said in my homily last weekend, it symbolizes peace and preparation. It should invite us to a moment of reflection: are we making space within our hearts to welcome the Lord? Are we making preparations for the coming of Jesus?

Every one of our readings today is bringing attention to this need to prepare the way for the Lord, to make straight His paths and to make a highway for God. These passages of scripture are inviting us to consider if we have truly done all that we can to prepare our hearts for Christ.

In our First Reading, the Prophet Isaiah is trying to instill a sense of hope in the people of Israel. The Prophet had in view the restoration of the Chosen People of God from the Babylonian exile. He was the voice crying out in the wilderness, he was the bearer of good tidings who was attempting to get the Israelites to recognize that the Lord was about to restore them to their former glory. The Lord tells Isaiah to encourage Israel that, after all their struggle and difficulty, not only are they getting closer to the Lord, but that He is coming closer to them to help them along the way. The people are told that they have paid the price for their sins and are ready to be reconciled with the Lord. They are challenged to build a direct path to God.[1] Because either way, whether they accept it not, the Lord is coming! And that is the same message that God has for us. He is coming soon, so we best be prepared for when He makes that return. 

In the Gospel, John is preaching in the desert, sharing with those who have followed him a very similar message. He might appear like a madman wearing camel’s hair and eating locusts, but, despite that, the message he was preaching was resonating. He is calling the people of Jerusalem who have come out to see him and hear that preaching to repentance from their sins because one mightier than he was coming.

Like the Prophet Isaiah, John was sharing the message that the Messiah was going to be making His appearance very soon. He was urging them to make the necessary preparations for the dawning of a new Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven. He was inviting the people to come out into the desert, to enter the stillness and the dryness, to remove themselves from the noise of the world so that they could enter into the depths of their hearts, acknowledging the areas of sinfulness and committing themselves to conversion.  He was calling them to repentance by baptism, to be washed clean from their sins so that they could be ready to receive the message of the Messiah, so that they could be prepared to welcome Him.

The only way that the people of Jerusalem would truly be able to make the Lord’s path straight is by embracing an attitude of repentance and a desire for forgiveness – that’s the important message that John came to peach. Without those two things, conversion, transformation, renewal would not be possible. Without them, there is no way they would be free to welcome Jesus into their hearts. That is the very same message that we are being called to embrace today.

If we don’t possess that attitude for repentance and that desire for forgiveness, there is no way that we will be prepared for the coming of Christ. We cannot welcome Jesus anew in our hearts if we are holding onto any area of serious sin. We cannot welcome Christ within if we have walls around our hearts that are preventing Him from getting in. We cannot become Christ bearers for the world if we do not approach the Lord and ask for His forgiveness, for His grace. We cannot step into freedom while we are shackled by chains.

Thankfully though, the Church has given us this season to embrace the change that we are so often desperately looking for. “Advent is our moment for adopting the right attitude.” Are we making the most of it and putting in the real effort to truly be prepared for the coming of Christ at Christmas?

Here are 5 things we can do for the remainder of the Advent season to make sure that we are striving to prepare our hearts in the best way possible for the coming of Jesus.

First, make a good examination of conscience. We can’t ask the Lord for forgiveness for something if we don’t know it’s on our hearts to begin with. We can’t ask the Lord to bring us to a moment of conversion if we don’t know we need to be converted. A good examination of conscience can go a long way to help us realize areas of sinfulness in our lives.

Second, a natural step forward from the first – go to confession. We have ample opportunities throughout the week for confession: after the 8:30 daily Mass Monday through Friday, at 9:00 on Saturday morning, or at 4:00 on Saturday afternoons. If those times aren’t convenient, the priests are always more than happy to schedule an appointment for confession – I recommend that especially if you haven’t been to confession for a while.

Third, commit to daily prayer. Spend time reflecting on the readings of the day. The US Conference of Bishops website has them on their front page or you can use a Magnificat or some other liturgical aid. Bing those readings to reflection: what is the Lord speaking to my heart? What is He inviting me to do through that message?

Fourth, spend time in the desert. Get away from the noise of the world and spend some quite time with the Lord – whether that’s in adoration or some other way. Invite Him into our hearts. Ask Him to bring us to a deeper sense of conversion, to bring freedom to our lives, to break down any walls that are preventing us from experiencing His love. We are so lucky to have a perpetual adoration chapel here at Holy Family, let’s take advantage of it.

Fifth, do acts of charity. So often, preparing the way of the Lord means that we have to go out to others and bring them to an encounter with the Lord so that they, too, can come to a moment of transformation. It’s not hard to find people in our world who are struggling in some way. We can be Christ for them and help them to experience His love. Call someone who is alone. Visit an elderly or sick loved one or neighbor. Do something for a person in need. We never know what kind of impact that will make on them…or on us.

Jesus wants to be born in us in a fresh and new way this Christmas. He desires a space in our hearts. For the rest of this Advent season, let’s seriously strive to prepare that place for Him. If we seek to do that, we won’t be disappointed come Christmas day. We might just discover that our lives have been changed. So, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight His paths.

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[1] “Make Straight the Way for the Lord,” ePriest, Second Sunday of Advent (B).

Image: Saint John the Baptist in the Desert, Simone Cantarini, etching. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Wikimedia Commons.