SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT
Isaiah 11:1-10
Matthew 3:1-12
While last week’s Gospel text invited us to ‘Stay Awake!’, the message this week is no less urgent: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is close at hand.’ John the Baptist walks into our Advent landscape with a message that is uncompromising. His cry of ‘Repent’ is for deep and radical change where hearts are to be turned away from all that would hinder their love for God. John’s message echoes that of the Old Testament prophets who proclaimed the great day of reckoning, the Day of the Lord. With imagery of warfare and cataclysm the Old Testament prophets warn of a time when God will come to right all wrongs.
As Advent unfolds for us, we may find ourselves trying to hold together this radical call to conversion on the one hand, and on the other an atmosphere of expectant joy and glitz created in all our high streets and on our tv screens. I’ve been struck by the popularity of Dr Michael Mosley’s book and series ‘Just One Thing’ and wonder if this might hold the key for us. Mosley suggests that in the bewildering array of material available on health and well-being, changing just one thing can provide great benefits. Perhaps Advent might be the time when you could make a small change.
When St Benedict writes the Prologue to his Rule he is clear that conversion lies at the heart of his monastic vision:
Therefore, we intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service. In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome. The good of all concerned, however, may prompt us to a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love. Do not be daunted immediately by fear and run away from the road that leads to salvation. It is bound to be narrow at the outset. But as we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love.
Amending faults and safeguarding love are the very stuff of monastic life. There is something about the regularity of the life which makes it relatively easy to see one’s own patterns of behaviour. Where the real hard work begins is learning how to amend faults. St Benedict doesn’t expect this to happen overnight. In Chapter Four of his Rule, The Tools of Good Works, he provides the monastic with a spiritual toolkit. There are seventy-four tools which will aid the monastic in their craft. I take great heart in the fact that the last tool of all is this: never lose heart in God’s mercy. The monastic way may be narrow and at times hard, but the promise is there that if you are faithful your heart will expand and overflow with love.
Is there one thing you would like to change this Advent?