Father Rick Bolte's Homily

C: 2nd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

I listened to the BBC this morning to hear the international news.  I also read the first section of the Enquirer.  The news was much the same as it was yesterday, the day before, last week, last month, last year, etc.  It’s bad news.  There are natural disasters, accidents, and harm cause by one person or group on another.  There are things going on to worry about because they could affect us or those we love.

We might ask, “Why do we seem to get only bad news?”  However as parents and those who have responsibility for children, I think we know.  Anytime we needed to get a child’s attention enough to quickly influence their behavior, we use these same “fear” tactics.  We don’t sit down and try to explain why they should behave better, for a quick response we either punish them or threaten to give them time out, deprive them of a treat, take away their cell phone, or refuse permission for them to go out.  Politicians know that they can get a quick response from us if they tell us something bad that will happen to us if certain legislation is passed (or not).  That’s why political candidates often resort to negative campaigning as it gets quick results while long explanations loose our attention.  Media outlets know bad news gets our attention whereas good news does not.

There’s a side effect of hearing so much bad news.  The world can become for us a scary place.  We try to protect ourselves and our families from all the dangers.  Each of us is just a single individual and we don’t have the power to even make the changes we would like in our families, much less the larger community, nation, or world.  We pull in from involvement in the world.  We may even give up and just be cynical about most everything.

Faith, as I am fond of saying, is not about believing God can do anything God wants to in the world.  It’s more personal.  Faith is first having confidence that God’s power can work through us even though we are sinners.  There’s no waiting until we’re “good enough” but rather we acknowledge that God’s power is far greater than any sin we may fall into.  Faith is believing that with God’s power we can make a difference in the world.

Our first reading from Baruch speaks of the promise of the good that will come with God’s coming.  This is spoken by the prophet in the face of great oppression and many who were despairing.  In today’s gospel John the Baptist speaks of his mission to prepare the way of the Lord.  He will carry out his mission in a time of great oppression from the Romans and of opposition from the leaders of his faith.  Neither Baruch nor John the Baptist has great power in the earthly sense.  In fact historically when the Catholic Church had considerable earthly power, it was some of the darkest days of the Church in terms of moral leadership.

We can easily be aware of the problems and evils of our world.  It can be scary and even a bit overwhelming.  On our own, with our personal sinfulness and powerlessness, we can feel helpless and even despair.  But we are called to be a people of faith.  Faith is in God’s power especially as God works through us.  We, like John the Baptist, can face our world knowing we have the power of God within us.  The goodness of God can flow through us preparing the way of the Lord!