Reflection for the Vigil of the Second Sunday of Advent 2008
December 6, 2008

by Joan Offenburger, OSB

Readings: Malachi 3:1-4; 4:4-6 [NAB 3:1-4, 22-24]
Mark 1:1-8

Edgar Allan Poe once wrote something called “Theory of Composition.” In it, he offered this counsel to story writers: Decide what effect you want the ending of the story to produce. Everything you write should aim toward that end. Anything that does not point to that end or effect should not be allowed in the story.

In a sense, the same counsel is true of our lives and of the liturgical year. Each year we begin at the ending, so to speak; we begin at judgment time. Everything that will be included in the year’s celebration is available to us in microcosm, in the advent/Christmas season. Mark tells us repeatedly, “Be on guard. Be vigilant! We do not know the day or the hour. Watch!” And the Advent scripture begins with those suggestions. This week, we backtrack to beginnings – to the universal preparation suggested by the call of John the Baptizer to repent, change, make ready a straight way for the Lord.

To be literal for a moment…have any of us seen a highway built by a crew of one? One person who maps and evaluates terrain, understands the geological formation of the area, knows the materials to be used, where to purchase and how to transport and on what schedule, where to hire and the salary schedule, where funds will come from when needed…and then goes ahead and builds the road all alone. Unless we want to build that bridge or road to nowhere, we need to think of how much cooperation is needed and how many folks travel the road with us.

If the road to make ready is a straight way for the Lord, what are the requirements? The road to God is God, coming soon, already here, and the end of our becoming. Simply put, we, having come from God, will return to God, our shared beginning and ending. But how we travel, what we do, who we each become—that is unique. And our responses to one another help shape how we travel, what we do, who we each become. As with all roads, no one makes the journey from God or to God alone. Eliot reminds us, “In our end is our beginning.”

Malachi presents the Lord of judgment, coming in a great and terrible day, suddenly. We are cautioned to be open to the coming of the One promised, to be ready for the coming of the spirit. And who will be ready? Perhaps those who remember the promise of this morning’s reading: “I the Lord have called you for the victory of justice….See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you.”

We are surrounded these days by the example of those who have kept these teachings in mind – the Salvadoran martyrs, the bishop Nicholas, the Mother of God, the Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego, Saint Lucy of Rome and our very own Lucy Dooley, all our companions on the way, not the least of whom are sitting right here. We are reminded of Benedict’s “hold death daily before your eyes… show in your lives the good zeal of love.” Such thoughts are not far removed from John the Baptizer urging us to prepare the way of the Lord, make straight a highway for our God.

To know how we want to end up is the precondition for what we allow in our lives. God’s love gives us only good. Even the malice and sin we permit and choose are covered by the God who says, “Repent . . . I will remember your sins no more.” The image of a child dependent on us for life and all it entails – protection, nurture, teaching, loving-kindness—is the daring gift God becomes for us…the same God of justice and judgment who created all and asks us to embrace all – everyone…everywhere.

Journey to God is the great adventure we discover and rediscover all our lives. The road there says, “Keep trying. Learn to make allowances for others. Embrace the world of differences . . . differences with a common end. Forgive. Repent. Love.”

Advent is a good time to think of what we’d like to include in our own life’s essay, remembering how important our choices are and how many authors help us to write that story.

© 2008 Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, Kansas