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_{2nd Sunday of Advent
December 10, 2006}

Victor Frankl was a Jewish psychiatrist.  When the Nazis took over Germany, he was arrested with other Jews and sent to a concentration camp. 

In his book Man's Search for Meaning, which is now considered a modern classic, Frankl describes the sufferings that Jews endured in those camps.  Surprisingly, one of the worst sufferings was that of waiting:  waiting to learn what happened to loved ones, waiting to learn one’s own fate, waiting to be executed, waiting to be rescued.

This terrible waiting affected prisoners in different ways.  Some lost hope and despaired.  Others lost faith and stopped believing.  But others continued to wait and pray.  They never lost hope.  They never despaired.  They never lost faith.

What was true of Jews in Nazi Germany was also true of Jews in ancient Palestine.  They, too, suffered from political oppression.  They, too, suffered from the pain of waiting:  waiting for the coming of the Messiah, waiting for the coming of the Promised One, waiting for their King.

When the Messiah didn't come, ancient Jews responded as did modern Jews.  Some lost hope.  Others lost faith.  But others continued to wait and pray.  This was the climate present in Palestine prior to the coming of Jesus.  And it is against this background that we must read today's gospel story.

And what does today's gospel story say?  It says that out of the desert, like a sudden clap of thunder, came a man named John.  He was dressed like prophets of old, in clothes made of camel’s hair.  And he ate locusts and wild honey.  His message was also like that of the prophets of old. 

"Repent," he said, "for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

And, as in the case of the prophets of old, many people were moved by John’s words and were baptized in the Jordan.  Excitement rolled across the land like a great tidal wave.  People began to say to one another, "This must be the Messiah!"

But when John heard, he protested, saying he was simply the one of whom the prophet Isaiah was speaking when he said:  "A voice of one crying out in the desert, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'  Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!  Repent!"

Prepare for the coming of the Lord.  Prepare for the coming of the Promised One.  Prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

Prepare with your whole mind, with your whole heart, with your whole being.  Prepare as you have never prepared before.  Prepare as if your life depended on it.  Prepare as if your eternal happiness depended on it.  For indeed they do!

John the Baptist was trying to make a jolting impact on people's thinking.  This is what he was trying to do by the simple words, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

He was trying to jar people out of their beds of apathy and complacency.  He was trying to tell them that the clock was about to strike midnight.  He was trying to get them to prepare for an event that they never dreamed to be possible.

The very Son of God was about to enter human history and be born as a baby dressed in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  This is the message of today’s readings.  This is what we celebrate in today's liturgy.  This is what we pray for as we return shortly to the Lord’s Table to prepare to receive the Son of God’s Body and Blood.