Prepare The Way | The Second Sunday of Advent
Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.
Prepare The Way | The Second Sunday of Advent
By Br. Jerome Masters, O.P.
On this second Sunday of Advent, we hear in the gospel that St. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance in order to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah wrote “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” We hear about St. John preparing the way of the Lord before this gospel from his father, Zechariah when he says in his famous canticle, “You my child shall be called a prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way” (Lk. 1:76). What does it mean to prepare the way of the Lord?
This can be taken in two ways. The first way is preparing others for the second coming of the Lord. We’ve seen many times people out on the street preaching about the apocalypse, Jesus, heaven, and hell. While these street preachers often get a bad reputation for not always being the most charitable when it comes to presenting the good news of the gospel, there is something to what they are doing. In the Dominican Order, we have a tradition of contemplating and sharing the fruits of our contemplation. If we are contemplating the love of God, then there would be an overflow into the preaching about the love of God. St. Gregory says:
John cries in the desert because he brings the glad tidings of redemption to deserted and forsaken Judaea, but what he cries is explained in the words, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. For they who preach true faith and good works, what else do they [preach] than prepare the way for the Lord’s coming into the hearts of the hearers, that they might make the paths of God straight, forming pure thoughts in the mind by the word of good preaching.
In other words, preaching the good news prepares the hearers to receive the good news. The good news is that we have a savior in Jesus Christ who came, died, rose, and will come again. He did this out of an act of utter kindness.
The second way to prepare the way of the Lord can be in ourselves. Origen says, “Prepare then in your heart by good conversation a way for the Lord, and by perfect works pursue the path of life, so that the word of God may have free course in you.” We can prepare ourselves for the second coming of the Lord by fighting vice and asking for the virtues we need. We can do this through regular contemplation with the Bible, going to Eucharistic Adoration, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, and praying the rosary. These practices can help to cultivate good conversations that can lead us to the truth of who God is. God reveals himself to us in many ways, and he uses people to help us to get to know him. There is some truth about God that only you can reveal to others, because of your unique character that He created. If we keep our hearts and minds on earthly things we won’t be able to prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts.
Jesus Christ will be returning to this earth, and we have a hope that he, as our redeemer, will come to save us. May we be forerunners, as St. John the Baptist was, and tell the good news of the gospel to all and be reminded of it in our hearts.
The Dominican Foundation of Dominican Friars Province of St. Joseph, Inc. is a NY State tax-exempt corporation under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code, with
Tax ID # 26-3273636.