Third Sunday of Advent - Fr. Leo

Priest, Levites, and Pharisees went to question John the Baptist to find out who he was and what he was about. This tells us two things. First, John’s ministry was having an impact.  Enough people were seeking him out that it caused the religious establishment to check it out.  Secondly, it reveals the suspicions of the religious leaders.  Who is this man of influence and does he fit with our understanding of God and God’s ways?

The suspicion found here implied Jesus thought out his ministry as well.  Jesus too, had to deal with the religious establishment. Despite all his miracles and acts of love, the religious establishment found him a threat and had him killed.

We need to ask ourselves, if Jesus came today, how would he be received?  It is very hard for individuals and institutions to change their paradigms of how they see things as they are, convinced that things have always been as they are and too change would be “wrong.’  In short, we are resistant to change.  We don’t like it. 

The “Traditionalist” in our church are resisting mass in English.  Vatican II opened the door to the vernacular in celebrating the Eucharist and that change was the decision of an ecumenical council which carried the greatest authority in the Church.  So, to deny the work of the Spirit in Vatican II is to deny God’s will and separate oneself from the Church of Peter and the apostles. 

It takes a certain humility to accept the creative will of God.  God is not static and therefore things will always evolve.  In humility, we might ask if our current hierarchical structure fits with a Jesus who chose poverty and service and self-sacrifice.

For ourselves, we must re-look at our assumptions of who we think God is.  Have we made God too much in our own image.  Does God want to punish the same people we do?

We are given the Magnificat as our response to our first reading this morning.  In it, we hear the words of Mary, a humble servant who surrendered herself to the work of the Holy Spirit.  In her own words, she celebrates all that the Lord has done for her.  She can celebrate because she accepted God’s will as painful as it was.

Mary is the perfect image for us to contemplate as we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Spirit today!  Are we open to the creative movement of the Holy Spirit?  Will we seek God’s ways and pray for the insight and strength to move deeper into the goodness of God even when we must change our judgments to love, and divisions to unity?