REFLECTION
Please find below the link for the October 2022 edition of “Our Diocesan Community” to be included in your next school newsletter, facebook page and/or website https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ODC-October-2022-web.pdf.
Gospel
Prepare the way of the Lord
In due course John the Baptist appeared, he preached in the wilderness of Judea and this was his message ‘Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand!’
This is the man the prophet spoke of when he said.
The voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
This man John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him and were all being baptised by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones.
Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptising you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than me and I am not fit to carry his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his beating floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.” Matthew 3:1-12
Reflection
During this time of the year, every television commercial, every department store, and even most of our conversations focus our attention on Christmas plans. We begin to turn our attention to whom to invite over for dinner and what gifts to give family and friends. For some, Christmas represents loneliness, loss, and unbearable anxiety. For them, Advent becomes a painful waiting period before the reopening of a wound, and a reminder of their aloneness in this world. Sometimes we forget to stay in the moment of Advent a bit longer and more intentionally, even though it might seem easier to just look ahead.
I, just like most people, enjoy preparing my home with festive decorations, planning delicious meals and family time, as I anticipate Christmas. So, I have often found myself either rushing through Advent or looking right over it to Christmas. As the glitz, excitement, and maybe even a little anxiety of Christmas grabs our attention, John the Baptist also grabs our attention and prompts us to prepare in a deeper way. John the Baptist, a man who lived what he preached, did not hold back when he informed everyone present for baptism that their task was to announce Christ by the way they lived; it was not enough to say that they were baptised. This is a prompt I sit with quite often because my excuse for not being very intentional with Advent has been that I work in Church and do ministry every day, so I have convinced myself that I have done enough. However, I find myself becoming complacent and overly comfortable with the flow of the Church calendar. So much so that I move right through each week to the next thing or season. I find that preparing my heart to be a welcoming place for Jesus becomes an afterthought in rushing around. I have found myself increasingly more uncomfortable with Advent because it feels like just another period of waiting, which mirrors most of my life. I become tired of preparing myself to wait and find myself creating numerous lists for future tasks. In the process, I miss Advent, which is the announcement of love that is and love to come.
So, today I am quite drawn to the prompt of John the Baptist to prepare in a deeper way to experience God and to do God’s work, to repent, forgive, and bear good fruit. As we prepare our hearts, we prepare a way for God to enliven and transform us. Preparing a way for God, preparing a welcoming place for Jesus in my heart, demands that I live a life that shows a spirit of understanding, wisdom, endurance, courage, harmony, truthfulness, authenticity, and reconciliation. Preparing a way for the Lord and making the way straight also means listening to God intentionally and removing the blockages and obstacles which prevent God from coming close to me. Advent might also be a good time for me to intentionally look into the parts of my life that need straightening out and then maybe in the process even find the courage to stay a little while longer in the discomfort of waiting and preparation which could sometimes fill the Advent space.
Julie Leonard
Religious Education Leader/Wellbeing Leader