That All the World May See (Advent 2C)

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C | Dec 8, 2024

Additional homilies from this day in the liturgical season: 2nd Sunday of Advent – 2015, 2018, 2021

See today’s readings here. Video recordings of the Sunday evening Mass, where Fr. Brian regularly preaches, are available on Facebook at Delaware Koinonia. The archive of all of Fr. Brian’s homilies can be found here: Salesian Sermons

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So this past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to return to my Alma Mater, Desales University, for their annual musical celebration of the Advent season.

And as I was walking around campus, showing my brother Oblate the space that had defined my Oblate journey, I was struck once again by the absurdity of how the paths were constructed on campus.

They meander as if a toddler had been scribbling on a map and we decided to just pave wherever their crayon marked.  

And on a night that was quite cold, I kept wanting to leave the path and take the most direct route to my destination.

The route that is simple.  Straightforward.

Like the ones promised in our Gospel.

Every valley filled.  Every mountain brought low.  Every rough way made smooth.

No twists and turns.  No stumbling.  No struggling.  No getting lost.  

But I read the Gospel more closely this year.

And I realized it is not my paths that are meant to be made straight.

On the contrary, it is we who are entrusted with making the paths straight for the Lord.

Is that not the story of John the Baptist that we hear proclaimed against this season.

The one who heads off the path, into the wilderness.  To prepare the way for the Lord.

So that the Lord could encounter his people.  Wherever on the path they might be.

Is that not the work of each Christian disciple?

To be the waymakers.

To be the ones who connect each individual with the Christ who dwells within them.  To help them uncover their God-given dignity, the image of God that is imprinted on their souls.

Is there any more sacred gift we could offer this holiday season?

To pave the way for another to encounter Emmanuel as God with us this Advent season.

Knowing that we will need to leave the straight and narrow paths.

The ones that are safe and well-marked.  

For we cannot do this from a distance.

We cannot escape the journey into the wilderness.

A wilderness full of lived experiences that are so often not our own.

The anxiety of eviction.  The fear of deportation.

The gnawing hunger.  The dread of a craving that feels unbeatable.

The suffocating grief.  The searing pain of violence.

The ache of loneliness.  The sting of rejection and betrayal.

A wilderness in desperate need of a path.

A path that leads to comfort and healing.

A path that leads to justice and peace.

A path that leads to liberation and reconciliation.

A path that leads to an experience of unconditional love.

A path that leads to the sacred.  To the divine.  To the Lord that we await. That we seek. 

With each day, the world grows darker.  The night descends quicker and quicker.

But we are bearers of the light.

Let us shine.  Shine so bright that all the world may see the path we have prepared.

The path we have prepared for the Lord.

The path we have prepared for God’s people.

May God be Praised.

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IMAGE ATTRIBUTION: Swanson, John August. Festival of Lights, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56546 [retrieved January 2, 2025]. Original source: Estate of John August Swanson, https://www.johnaugustswanson.com/.pg.