OPEN NEW PATHS TO JESUS

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Luke 3, 1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 

He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’ (NIV)

OPEN NEW PATHS TO JESUS

José Antonio Pagola

Rev. Fr.Valentine de Souza S.J.

 The early Christians saw in the conduct of John the Baptist the prophet who decisively prepared the way for Jesus. So, through the centuries, the Baptist has become a call always urging us to prepare ways that will allow us to welcome Jesus among us.

 Luke has summarized his message in this cry taken from the prophet Isaiah: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” How should we listen to this voice in the Church today? How should we open ways for men and women of our times to encounter him? How should we welcome him in our communities?

 The first thing is to realize we need a much more lively contact with his person. It is not possible to survive only on the nourishment religious doctrine provides. It is not possible to follow a Jesus who has become a sublime abstraction. We need to identify ourselves with him in a vital relationship, to allow ourselves to fall in love with his way of living, to absorb his passion for God and the welfare of humanity.

 In the midst of the “spiritual desert” of modern society, we must conceive of and shape the Christian community as a place where the Gospel of Jesus is welcomed; create an experience that unites believers, lukewarm believers, those who hardly believe and even unbelievers, drawn together around the Gospel story of Jesus; give him an opportunity to permeate with his humanizing power our problems, crises, hopes and fears.

 We must not forget him. In the Gospels we do not learn an academic doctrine on Jesus, inevitably destined to grow old over the centuries. What we learn is a way of life valid for all times and in all cultures: the way of life of Jesus. Doctrines do not touch, much less win hearts; they do not convert people. Jesus does.

 Direct and immediate experience of the Gospel story brings into being a new faith in us, not through “indoctrination” or “theoretical learning”, but through vital contact with Jesus. It is he who teaches us to live the faith, not out of obligation but by attraction. He inspires in us a Christian life not as a duty but by being drawn to it through contagious influence. By contact with the Gospel we recover our true identity as followers of Jesus. 

 By following the story of the Gospels we come to realize that the invisible and silent presence of the Risen Christ takes on human features and acquires a specific voice. Suddenly everything changes: we can live accompanied by Someone who puts meaning, truth, and hope into our existence. The secret of the “new evangelization” lies in putting ourselves in direct and immediate contact with Jesus. Without him it is not possible to engender a new faith.

Open new paths to Jesus

Jose Antonio Pagola, vgentza@euskalnet.net , San Sebastian, Guipuzcoa, Spain.

English Translation by Valentine de Souza S.J. Mandal, Gujarat , India.394650