2nd Sunday of Advent 4 Dec 2011 Sermon

2nd Sunday of Advent 4.12.11 Repentance

I recall from my childhood that we had parish Missions, which were a concentrated set of talks given to a parish over two or three days. In those days the topics of the Mission were very much on the need to repent, the danger of hell, the suddenness of death and the like.

You might think that from such ominous topics the crowds at these events would be down, but no, they were overflowing. I recall at one time the church itself was full so they had to broadcast the talks to the overflow crowd in the classrooms of the adjoining school.

So many people wanted to hear about hell and their own chances of going there!

And in today’s Gospel we have a similar phenomenon in regard to John the Baptist. People would flock to him out there in the desert, mainly to be told they were a bunch of sinners who had better look out for themselves if they knew what was good for them.

And they loved it! Even the soldiers would ask him, what about us, what must we do?

What is it with human nature that we are so interested in finding out what is wrong with us?

It really indicates a belief that we are capable of better than we presently have achieved. We aspire to higher things, a better way of life, a higher standard of morality; to breathe cleaner air.

We sense in our hearts that it is possible for the world to be a better place, and we also sense that the people in the world could be better.

The environmental movement wants to clean up the rivers and the atmosphere. We all want that much, but one step better still would be to clean up the moral atmosphere, to cleanse the hearts and minds of people of all trace of hatred, malice, lust etc.

This is what St John the Baptist was offering to people. If he tells them how bad they are it is only so that they can see the way clear to being good. The same with the people who flocked to the parish missions.

Twenty years later when I was a priest, I heard the same religious order giving a Mission in my parish, only this time there was no talk of sin or hell, only how much God loves us. The crowds were down this time!

We cannot survive on a diet of love alone, or at least only talking about love. Love is the ultimate thing after all, but it has to be real love, and this can be achieved only when we remove all the falsehood from our lives.

So today we gather here, and I won’t say that you are bad people only fit for hell, but I know that every one of us here could do with a greater share of God’s grace, that we all have bad habits that could be turned into virtues; and that even what is good about us could be better.

We need to know what is wrong with us so we can fix it. And if we can fix it we will be much happier than we were before.

Today’s world - and much of the Church as well - deals with guilt simply by denying it. Don’t let your mind dwell on negative things. Just look at the positives.

But that is like saying, if you have an arrow in your back, don't think about it, just dwell on how healthy the rest of your body is.

No, we have to get the arrow out; remove the poison of sin, repent, confess, and experience the joy of being forgiven and the new confidence that comes with that of being able to live a better life: better in both senses of morally better and of being happier.

This is what we have been hungering for all along; what all the world wants if they only knew where to look.

As John the Baptist puts it, so must we do: "You offspring of vipers, who has showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of penance (Lk 3,7-8).