“Take off your robe of misery and mourning,” Baruch begins. “God is leading us in joy.” These words struck me when I first read them, and I found myself going back to them again and again. Is that what we’ve been doing, I wondered, wearing a robe of misery and mourning? The political situation in this country, in the West generally, and in the church has been bleak and heartrending, the news so painful. Misery, mourning—they make sense, I thought. Yet it can’t be the whole picture. What happens if we take the suggestion seriously—that God is leading us in joy? Joy is the traditional theme of the third Sunday of Advent, not the second. Interesting that we are reminded to have ‘joy’ two weeks in a row—especially this year, this season. There is more going on beneath the surface than we even imagine. God is continuing to perfect God’s work in us by leading us in joy this Advent. We are asked to lay aside our fears and concerns and follow God’s lead.
The Gospel most will hear in churches today is the story of John the Baptist, whose voice crying out in the wilderness we heard in our opening song: “Ready the way.” This is the traditional message for the 2nd Sunday of Advent. Something extraordinary is about to happen. New life is on the horizon. John gets our attention and invites us to begin an inner transformation of heart and mind. It’s necessary to clear the year’s debris and make ourselves ready so we can SEE and ENTER the new reality that is approaching. Clearing a path through the thicket of fear we remove the cataracts from our eyes that distort the light and barricade joy. Those barriers can be internal attitudes as well as habitual ways of thinking—influences that condition our choices every moment of every day.
John the Baptist is a rogue of a man, unorthodox in his ways, wild and unappealing in his dress and food choices, but a passionate prophet with a sense of urgency. He models an extravagant expression of conversion at the river’s edge. It is dramatic, breath-taking—a sacrament of commitment to deep, inner change. “Ready the way” he cries! “Your God is coming.” Joy and hope are available. Clear the path of your heart!”
But the Gospel we read today has a different ring to it than the strident tones of John. It is the Gospel for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (today and tomorrow) and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Wednesday). Though both Gospels prepare us for what is to come they do it very differently. The contours in Mary’s story are softer. Her words are receptive. She is patient, active, discerning. She listens, feels unsettled by what she is told, asks questions. In the end her heart is at peace with the answers she’s given. But there is more to it than that! She is fully present and open as she listens. The angel’s message resonates with her. She feels the love at its core, and lets it in. Mystery has touched her soul and she knows this at a level deeper than thought, deeper than words. There is no answer possible other than ‘yes’ if she is to preserve her integrity and remain whole. Her ‘yes’ opens the door to new life, to hope, to joy. Suffering doesn’t end there, for her or for us. The archetype she represents is the perennial gateway from the old and dying reality to the birth of new life, a new and utterly transformed world. It is the entry of the Divine Child through the Cosmic Mother of all that is.
John challenges us to recognize our attitudes and motives, to change how we think, how we treat people, how we live our lives with respect to our values. He wants us to do the inner work that leads to transformation. Mary invites us to listen deeply to whatever arises in our lives, even when it is troubling. She is there with us in our fears, reminding us that God is in those circumstances and we needn’t be afraid. Her courage and open-hearted willingness to face the unknown future is our model this Advent and throughout our lives. If we know the light is there somewhere we can choose to look for it, to wait for it. And if we give ourselves to that knowing, even for a second or two at a time, we can experience the reassuring, though subtle, fragrance of joy.
This season we are reminded to wait with expectant joy as light fades from the western sky. And while we wait, we prepare for the birth that is coming remembering that life has a deeper meaning than our culture and society would have us believe. John is there in his grubby clothing challenging us to clear the space inside our hearts so we can see and hear what is truly real, and change our lives to conform to that deep, authentic reality. Paul is there telling us to learn to value what really matters and be assured that the One who began a good work in each of us is continuing to perfect it. And Mary is there telling us to listen deeply and wait in the silence so we can hear the voice of an angel inviting us into a new world—a world awaiting our ‘yes’—a world waiting to be born in us and through us so all can find peace.
We are pregnant now as darkness increases. We instinctively know both the danger and the promise that lies ahead. Mary is our guide and midwife as we give ourselves to the processes at work within us that are intent on bringing new life into the world. The Light in this wilderness is leading us to Joy. We are the prophets and God-bearers bringing hope to the desert. We are the mothers holding all people in a steady embrace. Knowing God-is-with-us, leading us in joy, we can magnify the Light.
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