_{Holy Spirit Catholic Church
Homilies}

 _{Second Sunday in Advent}

A few years ago the Chicago Tribune reported how lasers are now being used to erase gang symbol tattoos from the bodies of former gang members. One place where this is being done is at Mount Sinai Health Center on Chicago's west side. The executive director who oversees the Sinai clinic says: "There is tremendous need for the program. We have a backlog of more than 700 people waiting to take advantage of the service."

On a recent Saturday, 45 patients went through the clinic. Using a pen-like laser instrument, volunteer doctors completed the first step of the removal of the tattoo in just minutes.

One patient was a 25-year-old woman. She said her decision to erase the tattoos occurred one Sunday afternoon. She was pushing her little daughter on a park swing. A couple of young gang members saw the pitchfork symbols of their rival gang tattooed on her arms and her legs, and opened fire. Luckily, in the haste of their shooting, they missed both her and her daughter.

Another former gang member at the clinic that afternoon had three teardrop tattoos removed from under his left eye. Each tattooed teardrop stood for a friend who had been killed by a rival gang. He said: "I've got a wife and a kid now. I want to leave all this stuff behind. It was a stupid thing that I did a long time ago."

The Chicago Tribune story illustrates an important point. All of us have done things in our lives that we now regret and would like to erase. This is true not only of young people, but also of older persons. For example, if I paused now for thirty seconds, I'm sure everyone in this church could recall several things they have done and would give anything if they could erase them from their lives.

The tragic thing is that so many people in the world regret things they have done, but don't know what to do to erase them. So they simply live with the situation. Whenever remorse or guilt surfaces, they attempt to put it out of their mind. But it usually returns again.

The famous British novelist Somerset Maugham spoke for a lot of people when he said: "I have a sensitive conscience and I have done certain things in my life that I am unable to entirely forget. If I had been fortunate enough to be a Catholic, I could have delivered myself of them at confession . . . received absolution and put them out of my mind forever."

His statement makes us realize how truly blessed we are to have a way to erase sins from our lives! As the former gang members rejoiced when they discovered a way to remove their tattoos forever, so we Catholics rejoice that Jesus gave us a way to remove our sins forever!

This brings us to the season of Advent. Each year Advent reminds us anew of the great gift Jesus has given us and urges us to use to put sins out of our lives forever. It not only gives us great peace of mind, but also prepares us for that awesome hour when we will stand before God to give a full account for what we have done and what we have failed to do in our lives.

The season of Advent reminds us that the words of John the Baptist in today's Gospel were intended not just for the people in biblical times, but for people of all times. They were spoken to you and me: REFORM YOUR LIVES . . . PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD!

Concretely, what do these words mean for us right now? They mean the same thing they did for the people of Jesus' time. They mean repenting our past and erasing it forever, especially through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, one of God's greatest gifts to us.

They mean doing what the former gang members did. They mean doing what alcoholics and drug addicts do in the fifth step of their 12-step programs. That important step reads: "We admit to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

And so Advent is a reminder that it is not just a time for preparing for the celebration of Jesus' first coming on the first Christmas. It is also a reminder that it is a time for preparing for the final coming of Jesus at the end of time.

So let us rejoice and thank Jesus for giving us a way to erase the past and start over again. During this Advent season I challenge each and every one of you to take full advantage of one of God's greatest gifts to us . . . the Sacrament of Reconciliation! We will have our Advent Penance Service here at Holy Spirit this Thursday night at
7:00 PM. I pray this church will be full of sinners wanting to reform their lives, wanting to prepare the way for the Lord, wanting to erase their sins!

Let me close with this prayer written by one of our Early Church Fathers, Origen, in the very early days of Christianity. I think you will see the connection.

Jesus, my feet are dusty and dirty. Pour water into your basin and come wash my feet, as you washed the feet of the apostles at the Last Supper.
I realize that I am terribly bold in asking you to do this. But I fear the warning you gave to Peter when you said to him, "If I do not wash your feet, you cannot have companionship with me." Wash my feet, then, Jesus, because I do want your companionship . . . more than anything else in life.!