One of the most familiar and important refrains of Advent is simply this, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” That cry is first found in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Is, 40:3). 

 

It is repeated in the Gospel of Mark, associating the preaching of John the Baptist with the preparation of the People of Israel to meet Jesus for the first time. (Mk, 1:3).

 

“Prepare the way of the Lord” is an Advent refrain because this season is meant to stir up in our hearts the conviction that we truly are made to meet Christ in a new and more intimate way than we do during this life. John tells us that moment of meeting Jesus will not simply involve seeing Him. It will have consequences for us personally since, “... we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 Jn, 3:2).

 

While Advent is a season with a special emphasis on preparing to meet the Lord, the reality is that our whole life is an extended preparation for that moment. For that reason, John the Baptist has much to say to every generation.

 

When John carried out his ministry he did so in the desert. That put the burden on the people to make a first choice by deciding to make the trek out to hear him. 

 

What is most instructive for us is that they must have been enticed to go by hearing reports of a message that called on them to change their lives. As more and more people went to John and accepted baptism, it is clear that they then decided to stay and listen. They were not turned off by John’s condemnation of sin. His call to change their lives was the concrete way to prepare the way of the Lord.

In the Gospel of Luke, we are told that John’s call for real change of heart and of behavior was specific and tailored to different individuals. To all he called for greater charity with the needy. Tax collectors were to stop collecting more than was prescribed. Soldiers were to act honestly and, curiously, were to “be satisfied with your wages.” (cf. Lk 3).

 

Obviously the Church presents us this understanding of the Advent Season so that we undergo our own renewal and preparation to meet Christ. But are we willing to go to the desert like the people in John’s time? Would we be willing to stay, and listen, and change?

 

We live in an era when people easily become touchy and even resentful if they are told that they are not acting rightly, if their lives are sinful. We are deeply influenced by our time that tries to tell us only that we are good, that whatever we do is simply carrying out our rights as determined by a court or by public opinion.

 

As always, one of the principal ways of dealing with our sins involves the sacrament of confession. There we compress the experience of John the baptism in the desert. We go knowing that our task is to confront our sins. We take on the task of articulating them before Christ in the person of the priest. We resolve to amend our lives and to avoid even the near occasion of sins.

 

And we conclude with something even greater than the mere baptism of water given by John the Baptist. We receive the very forgiveness of our sins promised by Christ.

 

Please, make sure that your Advent is always one that prepares the way of the Lord in your own soul. Prayer and repentance and a good confession. John the Baptist had the right program. Now it’s up to us to fully implement it in our own time and in our own lives.