I was in New Mexico last Wednesday and Thursday for a meeting. And I took
shuttle from El Paso airport to Las Cruces. At some point I went
through deserted areas. Desert, I noticed is a place of silence. It is a place
where distraction and attachments are eliminated.
In the Bible
desert has an important role in the spiritual journey. We read, Israelites
had to pass 40 days through the desert to get to the promised land. Jesus spend 40 days in the desert before he
started his ministry. Today's gospel, Mathew tells, we hear a voice of one crying out in the desert. And
this voice says, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.
This advent
season church is saying to us that we also need a desert experience in our
lives. We need time and place where distractions and attachments are
eliminated and where we can hear God. What God is saying? What God wants from
me? Is there anything that I need to change in my life? Yes, we need a desert
experience during advent. That's why church recommends fast and pray during
advent.
Christmas is a time of distractions shopping,
greeting cards, lights, cooking, gifts, lots of attachments and distractions.
In this busy time of the year we may forget to prayerfully to look in to ourselves,
especially where we are with our spiritual journey.
We have stories
about elephants in India. One of the stories is when elephant drinks water, it
stirs up the water. You may ask why? It's scared to look at itself. It's scared
to see how huge it is. We are sometimes very much like elephants, scared to
look in to ourselves. So we keep ourselves too busy, we avoid all reflective
times, we use earphones, headphones, loud music, partying to keep ourselves
busy. Someone said, busy
means being under Satan’s yolk. Dear
brothers and sisters, this advent season recommends that we need a time away
from distractions, time alone to reflect where we are? What God wants is to do?
In the gospel reading, John the Baptist is
preaching to us, repent and prepare the way for the Lord. He is asking us to form your life, have more quality of life.
The word he uses is metanoia. According to google, Metanoia can be defined as "a transformative
change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion. The term suggests
repudiation, change of mind, repentance, and atonement.
The message of
metanoia is to change your attitude. Change your ways of perusing the world. Start thinking my life belong to God, my
life is not all about me. Stop thinking of yourself as your project. Turn
around and build yourselves on God, change your ways. This is the greatest
message of the advent. Change yourself and be prepare to receive Jesus in your
heart.
Dear brothers
and sisters, we are not too late; we are not gone too far from the grace of
God. when Christ comes to our lives, whatever opposed to him must be cut off. Therefore,
we just read in the scripture, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be
cut down and thrown into the fire. It's not saying God is cruel. It is saying
that we can't embrace God with our sins. We need to change ourselves. What's is
needed to be cut off hast to be cut off.
One of my
friends was alcoholic. One day I recommend to go for a retreat. He said, no I
will not, because I know I have to change and I have to avoid my pleasures. One
good thing is he was so truthful. If God wants to come to our lives we have to
change, give up our sins and repent.
Dear brothers
and sisters, Jesus is Emmanuel and he wants us to be with us, let us spend some
time in advent in silence and give up our sins and accept him in our hearts and
minds. And we will be able to say on Christmas Day, yes, he is with me, with in
me, around me, hosanna!
