Is. 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps. 85:9-14; 2 PT. 3:8-14; Mk. 1:1-8

Prepare the way of the Lord!  The Lord’s way is not our way so the Lord is calling us to more than just changing the way we live, he is seeking a transformation of mind, heart and soul, and a mastery of our flesh.  Prepare the way of the Lord in our very being beginning with an act of repentance.  The was the message of John the Baptist that the Lord’s way begins with repentance for our sins that is why he came before Jesus preparing the way for his coming.  Do we desire the Lord’s coming?  We hasten his coming by “conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion”. 

Isaih calls us to “Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God.”  The wasteland is all the sin and corruption of souls by a culture of death.  The “highway for our God” is the sacramental life he left us in his church.  The young Carlo Acutis who died at the age of 15 and was beatified in 2020 called the eucharist his “highway to heaven”.  He used his computer programming skills to promote devotion to the eucharist documenting Eucharistic miracles.  He took who he was, his skills, his youthfulness, his interests and he used them to proclaim there is a God and he is in the Eucharist.  He is a modern –day John the Baptist proclaiming in the wasteland of our times to prepare the way of the Lord. 

Preparing the way of the Lord begins from within and matures into a calling in the way we honor, serve and give glory to God.  From within we come to believe there is a God, we are his creation, and he is calling us to himself.  What is our response, “here I am Lord” or “not yet Lord”?  Once we know there is a God, we play with fire if we choose to ignore his call for our salvation.  Thinking back to the parables Jesus gave to the apostles and the people, they served as a warning as well as a call to something greater to come.   The Lord comes with power to reward his people and to separate the sheep from the goats. 

The power of the Lord is for this day, he “does not delay his promise”.  One day or a thousand, it is all a breath from the Lord.  The Lord is coming and the Lord has come.  The first coming we prepare to celebrate as our Christmas time, Jesus in the flesh, in a manger, walking the earth and preparing souls to receive the Holy Spirit.  The second coming we are reminded of when the “heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire”.  Do we imagine a literal fire or the fire of the power of God, the fire of his light, and the fire his purging of souls?  It is the fire of his promise that also brings about “a new heaven and a new earth”. 

When we say “water and oil don’t mix” we recognize that certain circumstances cannot exist together.  Heaven and hell have a great chasm in separation of each other.   Sin and sanctity, one carries the passion of the flesh and the other the passion of the spirit.  The same is true of us if we remain in sin then we cannot receive the Lord’s justice and peace, kindness and truth, and all the benefits the Lord is prepared for those who do love and serve him.   What our true heart’s desire is this day will determine what happens next in the presence of the Lord. 

Behavioral science will affirm we are creatures of habit.  When we develop good habits, it leads to right action in our next circumstance just as bad habits can project negative consequences from future actions.  We prepare the way of the Lord through our discipline of faith.  Prayer is not an occasional act that happens only in Mass or in times of desperation.  Prayer is a discipline of being in contact with God as we offer up ourselves throughout the day.  It is not how long a prayer is but how meaningful our thoughts and words are with exclamations such as “Jesus I trust in you” and “Let thy will be done”.  It is the discipline of the day that prepares the way of the Lord for his coming in all we do and offer to him.  Life is not an accident by chance, it is about how we have prepared today for our tomorrow to come.  Tomorrow does not delay, let us be prepared.