Fr. Roger J. Landry

Conversations with Consequences Podcast

Homily for the Third Sunday of Advent (C), Vigil

December 11, 2021

 

To listen to an audio recording of this short Sunday homily, please click below: 

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/catholicpreaching/12.11.21_Landry_ConCon_1.mp3

 

 

The following text guided the homily: 

* This is Fr. Roger Landry and it’s a privilege for me to be with you as we enter into the consequential conversation the Risen Lord Jesus wants to have with each of us this Sunday, as for the second week in a row, like we do each Advent, we go out to meet Saint John the Baptist at the Jordan River. There the voice of one crying out in the wilderness summons us to make straight the paths of the Lord, to lower the mountains of our pride, to fill up the valleys of spiritual minimalism, to straighten our crooked ways and smooth our rough ones. People were walking for 20-50 miles to meet John out of in the middle of nowhere at the Jordan, some to investigate whether he was the Messiah, others sent by the religious authorities to evaluate him, most to listen to him with sincerity, be converted by him and prepare for the coming of the Messiah whom he was announcing.

* As a result of his powerful preaching, as we see at the beginning of this Sunday’s Gospel, the crowds were moved to ask him to get practical about how to prepare the way for the Messiah. “What then should we do?,” they asked. And he got very concrete. He called them to self-giving charity: “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none and whoever has food should do likewise.” When despised tax collectors asked him the same question, he instructed them to stop collecting more than is prescribed and basically cease their greedy ways and the notorious shakedowns of their own people to which they were accustomed. When even the Roman soldiers present had their hearts pierced by his words to ask what they had to do, he told them to practice justice rather than use their power for extortion, to tell the truth rather than falsely accuse, and to be satisfied with their wages so that they would not be prey to corruption.

* We need to be just as practical when we hear John the Baptist’s message each Advent. In a materialist age, in a culture of walk in closets and storage bins, we are called to be generous in sharing our clothes, our food, our money with those in need, to avoid greed, be just, tell the truth, and be content with what we have rather than obsessed about more. We need to be willing to make a journey out into the desert, away from creature comforts, and with courage ask not John, but God in prayer, or even his earthly representatives in our parishes and dioceses, “When then should I do?” And then, as fruits of repentance and a desire for renewal in our faith, act on what God through prayer, conscience or his representative indicates.

* But John calls us further than asking for and making such minor or major course corrections, as important as they are. Ultimately he summons them to a new life through a life-changing relationship with the One for whom he was preparing the way. “I am baptizing you with water,” he blared, “but one mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John was preparing us for Jesus and for our living out the true meaning of Christian baptism. John’s baptism at the Jordan was just a sign of the need for the forgiveness of sins and of a new life; the baptism Jesus would inaugurate, by the power of the Holy Spirit, would actually accomplish that forgiveness and make possible that new life together with him, a life that rejects Satan,