December 4, 2011

Second Sunday of advent: is 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8

Most of us have been watching San Pedro make the National News during this last month with the collapse of a section of Paseo del Mar on Sunday, November 20. It is amazing that a road that so many have often traveled could be so utterly destroyed. If you pass by now, you are likely to find workers who are doing all that they can to stabilize the area so that more of it will not fall into the water. Engineers have been hired to examine full effect of the landslide and others will study possible ways to divert the road. This is not a new phenomenon for residents of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Palos Verdes Drive South at Portuguese Bend has been sliding for over fifty years and there has been land movement in the area for 250,000 years. Yet, every year it seems like a new group of engineers makes it way to the area to attempt to straighten up the road.

Making straight a road for the Lord is the theme in the scriptures today on this Second Sunday of Advent. The first reading from Isaiah is an uplifting message to the people of Israel after they have been kept as prisoners in Babylon for seventy years. The message that the Lord sends to the people after their years of captivity is one of love, “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins" (Is 20:1). God's desire is both to lead His people back to their homeland and back to His good graces. The years that the people of Israel spent in captivity were an important period of purification that would prepare them and the world for one day receiving the Christ.

The Gospel presents the figure of John the Baptist who is given the mission to prepare the way of the Lord, He will be, " A voice of one crying out in the desert:"Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." (Ml 1:2). It will be John's job to preach a gospel of repentance and to set the state for the ministry of his cousin, Jesus. From the food that he ate, the clothes he wore to the words he spoke, all that John did was to help people understand that one greater than himself was coming into the world.

Recently, teaching on the Church in the Fourth Century, I was inspired again about the great witness of faith of the Christians of that era who endured great torture and martyrdom. Thousands and thousands of Christians proudly died proclaiming their faith inspiring the non-believers by not only their conviction, but their love and forgiveness. The Fourth Century began with Christians being a persecuted minority and ended with the Church becoming the predominate religion in the Roman Empire and the world through the witness of its martyrs and through the great acts of charity of its members.

The road to faith has always been and will always be filled with many obstacles, some that seem even more difficult to manage than the collapse of Paseo Del Mar or the Portuguese Bend. None of our roads are built only once, not maintained and then last forever. We are constantly needing to repair, maintain and sometimes overcome great obstacles to keep the traffic flowing. Advent is a time that we remember that we also need to maintain the highway of God's love heading towards our hearts and the lives of others. The work never stops and if we do what we need to do every day, hopefully we will not have any major road collapses.

Through our daily prayer and our reception of the Sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist during this time of advent, and through our works of charity, we prepare a place for Christ in our hearts. Through being filled with the love and joy of our faith we prepare a road for Christ to also enter the hearts of others. This is our responsibility! We are all being sent into the world this time of Advent and always to prepare the world for Christ. As good parents and grandparents; as good friends and neighbors; as good co-workers and schoolmates, we all have a role in making smooth the road of Christ to the world. If we hold anger in our heart, if we do not forgive those who hurt us, if we are not filled with love and charity and if we do not represent Christ well to others, we may well be creating roadblocks and potholes in the road to redemption for those around us.

As a community it is also our duty to make straight the path of Christ to our world. We do this at Mary Star of the Sea through the many ministries that we are all a part of in one way or another. Our Schools and Religious Education Programs provide a good environment for our children to be formed in their faith. Our ministries to the poor not only provide needed assistance to those in need, but are witnesses of our love to the world around us. Our ministries to the sick, homebound and our bereavement ministry bring comfort to those who are experiencing those bumps in the road of their lives. Our maritime ministry welcomes seafarers away from their homes and strangers to our shores. And our new bookstore provides religious articles, reading and audio material to nurture our faith. Our music ministries, our ushers, lectors, and altar servers help us create a joyful welcoming community to celebrate Christ in our midst. All that we do, all of our ministries, all our prayers groups and Eucharist Adorers, are in the service of removing the bumps and making straight the road of Christ to our world.

During these final weeks of Advent, let us all be more attentive to making straight the highway of Christ so He may born to us not only on Christmas, but every day of the year.

God Bless,

Father John Provenza

Pastor