Second Sunday of Advent-December 8, 2024

People ask us priests how we knew we had a vocation to the priesthood. Giving a straight answer is difficult. It is not like one day we heard a voice from heaven giving us the assurance of our vocation. It is more like the Word of God subtly entering the hearts and minds and leading them to a religious vocation. To priests and religious, the priesthood vocation and the religious vocation becomes our identity. We can say that it is because of the coming of the Word of God to us that we have discerned our call to become priests and religious.

I share this reflection with you today because the Gospel teaches us about John the Baptist and the activity of the Word of God in his life. St. Luke introduces John the Baptist to his readers saying, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceasar… the Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert”. It was the moment the Word of God came to Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son that he became John the Baptist.

From the moment of his conception, John the Baptist was chosen by God to be his prophet. However, and arguably, it was the moment he received the Word of God that he found his identity. His purpose was given to him at that moment. St. John the Baptist’s purpose and mission would only be understood in relation to the Word of God.

The Church proposes John the Baptist as the distinctive theme for this second Sunday of Advent. John the Baptist teaches us the way to prepare for the coming of the Lord. He spent his life expecting the coming of the Lord. His preaching was all about the preparation people needed to make for the coming of the Lord.

Today I want to focus on the coming of the Word of God to John as a role model for us. Similarly to St. John, it is the coming of the Word of God to us that changes our lives. It is the Word of God that reveals to us the meaning of our lives. It is the Word of God that shows us the path God wants to take us. It is the Word of God that reveals our concrete mission in the world and in the Church to us.

St. John the Baptist was in the desert when the Word of God came to him. St. John sought a place far from noise and distractions to tune his ear so that he could hear the Word of God when it was spoken to him. From St. John we learn the need to seek the desert in our lives to hear the voice of God. When we speak of the desert, we are not saying that we should go to a physical desert. Instead, we should find specific moments in our daily life that are conducive to prayer and reflection.

St. John the Baptist is teaching one of the most important spiritual lessons in our Christian life. If we will, we can imaginatively hear him telling us, “Let us go to the desert”. If we accept his invitation each day, our spiritual life will be better, our whole life will be better. If we accept St. John’s invitation and make some time, at least ten minutes, in the morning and in the evening to talk with God and listen for God’s response either in that moment or through our daily activity, we will hear God and recognize His action in our lives.

We need to make room to read and meditate on the Word of God in our prayer. Our attitude in prayer should be little Samuel’s attitude in the temple of Siloh, when in prayer he told the Lord, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). There are many reasons why we should pray. It is not only when we need immediate divine intervention. Today St. John the Baptist highlights one important reason for praying. We need to put ourselves in an environment that facilitates the coming of the Word of God to us and let him permeate our lives.

It is the coming of the Word of God and our docility, our willingness to be taught, that gives us our Christian identity. Discerning our purpose and mission in life requires listening to and acceptance of the Word of God. Let us humbly ask the Lord to grant us his grace to follow the example of St. John the Baptist and open our hearts to welcome the Word of God.