What did you go out to see, our Lord asks the people that were in the desert to be baptized
by St. John the Baptist.
Our Lord is the fulfillment of all that St. John preached about.
John's preaching was about the coming of Jesus and he was there to help others prepare for
that coming.
And when Jesus came upon the scene, St. John sent his disciples out to see if it was really
he that he was speaking of.
Of course it was.
And our Lord drew the attention of the people to St. John just as St. John was drawing the
attention of the people to him.
Of course St. John, as he said, was...
The voice of one crying out in the wilderness.
But he was not, as St. Augustine reminds us, he was not the word.
He was just the voice to proclaim that the word was coming.
The one who speaks the fullness of the truth was at hand.
And so St. John in his preaching made it very clear that he was not to be the object of
attention, that it was not, you know, he wasn't speaking on his own behalf and he wasn't speaking
about him.
But he was directing the attention of the people to someone who was about to arrive
at the scene.
And when our Lord arrived on the scene, it's interesting that our Lord turns around and
in a way points to St. John.
And again, not because St. John was to be the object of attention, but because St. John
represents the dispositions that all of us ought to have in order to receive Jesus in
his coming.
He said, what did you go out to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?
Of course, the answer to that question is no.
St. John in his preaching was steadfast and courageous and unbending.
And he was there to establish a firm foundation for the coming of the Lord.
He was there to call people to repentance, to get people to wake up and be ready for
when the Lord came.
And so he was uncompromising.
And his uncompromising.
Uncompromising preaching ultimately cost him his life because he preached penance.
He preached against sin, preached against all that was offensive to God.
And he understood that this was what was necessary as a preparation for the coming of the Savior.
What did you go out to see?
Someone dressed in fine clothing?
No.
St. John was not a prince or a wealthy man or a man of prestige.
St. John was a penitent living in the desert in poverty, eating honey and locusts and dressed
in animal skins.
He had nothing of this world.
Like Jesus, he had nowhere to lay his head, but was there solely as an instrument of God
to prepare the people for the Lord's coming.
Why did you go out then, our Lord says, to see a prophet?
Yes, this was the answer.
To see a prophet, to see someone who is willing to stand fast in anticipation of our Lord's
coming and to guide everyone into the way of truth, to guide everyone to live the life
of penance and prayer that is necessary for the coming of the Lord.
And so our Lord direct people's attention to St. John.
.
They would be prepared for the revelation of his glory.
Our Lord would descend into the waters of the Jordan.
John would baptize him and the Holy Spirit would descend upon the Lord as a dove and
the Father would speak, this is my beloved Son, listen to him.
And then people would be ready for that revelation because of the preaching of St. John.
.
And so our Lord is saying this to us as well during this Advent.
You know we should be firm and steadfast, not like a reed swayed by the wind.
We should be penitential in our preparation for the coming of the Lord.
We should try to observe Advent by fasting and prayer and alms giving as we are always
reminded during the penitential seasons that it's not just self-denial.
It's fasting.
Yes, but the fasting should be joined with prayer because we need to have the right intention
and our fasting needs to be directed towards God.
So prayer is joined with fasting and alms giving because the fruit of our conversion
of our life of penance should be generosity.
First of all of course with God and then with our neighbour and this is of course the true
meaning of the Christmas season.
and the whole idea of gift giving.
Jesus is the greatest gift.
It is truly better to give than to receive.
And in the mystery of Christmas,
because of the gift that we receive, Jesus Christ,
we learn that this is the truth.
So our self-denial is a way of opening ourselves up
to receiving Jesus and then being open
to share him with others through our witness
and through our words and through our deeds.
And there is a prophetic role as well.
You know, our conviction about Christmas,
you know, our willingness to celebrate it
as it ought to be celebrated,
our understanding of why we have a, you know,
big Christmas tree across the street all lit up,
you know, half the people that go and see it
or attend its lighting have forgotten
the reason for its existence.
We have to be witnesses of why we are joyful
and, you know, we're not joyful just to be joyful
or just to celebrate.
We are joyful because of the presence of Jesus Christ.
And this is a great prophetic message
of this particular moment when we are called
to a new evangelization.
We are to proclaim in joy and confidence
in the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst.
And Christmas is a particular opportunity for us to do this.
Today we celebrate the third Sunday of Advent,
and so the third candle, the rose-colored candle,
is lit and the priest is wearing rose-colored vestments.
So the dark violet is softened a little bit
and lightened up to remind us that Christmas is already here.
And this Advent is pretty short,
so the third Sunday of Advent also corresponds
to basically the end of the first half
of, well, not even the first half,
you know, the first period of Advent.
Tomorrow, with the 16th, we begin, you know,
the immediate preparation for Christmas,
and then the Christmas novena will begin.
And so, in a particular way, we remember the anticipation
of the Blessed Virgin, Our Lady,
who should be our preparation for Christmas.
Our Lady's anticipation, her heart,
her dispositions, her joy, her conviction,
her presence should become ours.
We should live her life in these last moments
in preparation for Christmas.
Today is the octave day of the Immaculate Conception.
You know, it used to be that major feast days
were celebrated in the liturgy for eight days,
now we only have a couple of octaves, really,
Easter and Christmas.
Christmas isn't really even the octave that it used to be,
but in any case, we think about the Immaculate Conception.
We celebrated the Immaculate Conception last Monday,
then Our Lady of Guadalupe on the 12th,
and Our Lady appeared at Guadalupe
during the octave of the Immaculate Conception.
And so we think about the holiness of the Blessed Mother,
the way God prepared her to become the mother of Jesus,
and how Our Lady's dispositions ought to become ours.
Saint Julian Amard talked about the Immaculate Conception
as our preparation for Holy Communion.
He said that Our Lady's heart, Our Lady's dispositions,
her holiness and purity ought to become ours,
so that when we receive Jesus in Holy Communion,
we receive Him with her heart.
And that's the way we should live our lives.
That's the way we should prepare for Holy Communion.
It's the way we should prepare for Christmas.
It's the way we should prepare for the end of our life.
It's the way we should prepare for every moment of our lives,
because every moment is a time when God comes to us,
when Jesus Christ is present to us and makes Himself known.
And so, you know, we should be firm, penitential,
and prophetic in these last moments of Advent.
And we should do this in union with the Blessed Virgin,
asking her to make us more and more like her,
so that we can receive Jesus in true purity of heart.
And if we haven't had an opportunity yet
to go to confession before Christmas,
you know, even if we don't feel like
we have any serious sin on our soul,
we should do that, you know?
We should take the opportunity to purify our hearts,
sacramentally, in confession,
in order to receive Jesus more worthily.
You know, the sacrament of confession isn't there
just to be received once a year in preparation for Easter,
or, you know, just when, God forbid,
we fall into mortal sin.
Jesus is there in His mercy, His grace,
and forgiveness all the time.
And whenever we are in need,
especially whenever our hearts are, you know,
in turmoil, or, you know,
or somehow disjointed even in a small way from God
because of our imperfections and sins,
our anger, our lack of forgiveness,
we need healing, you know?
We need not just, not just God to tell us,
Jesus to tell us that we're forgiven,
because there's more than,
that's fundamental to the sacrament of confession.
We also need to be strengthened against
the kinds of temptations that we experience.
We need to be healed, we need to be strengthened,
we can go on.
And that is why the sacrament of confession
is the sacrament of mercy.
You know, Pope Francis has said, you know,
the confessional shouldn't be a torture chamber,
you know, where we find ourselves
simply faced with our guilt and with judgment.
You know, that's not the point
of the sacrament of confession.
The sacrament of confession is for us to open up our hearts
to the mercy of God, to be honest before God,
and to receive His mercy, and His grace, and, and His healing.
And so, that is, should be a joyful opportunity
for us to prepare for the coming of the Lord,
and to receive Jesus in the most fruitful way possible
in Holy Communion, and at Christmas time.
So there are many things that we can do,
we should look to Saint John, and his firmness,
Saint John and his penitence,
and his love of Christ Jesus.
and most of all to the anticipation of our Blessed Lady
who joyfully waits for the coming of Jesus
and who asks us and who wants us to share in her joy
so that we can always find the peace and happiness
that belongs to those who know Jesus Christ
and who live in his grace.
Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Amen.