EXPECTING, PREPARING, WAITING, COMING

This week’s word is preparing, and the gospel leaves us with no doubt about what we are to be preparing for – the kingdom of heaven. How interesting it is that the words are proclaimed by John the Baptist. How then are we to understand them and how are we to prepare ourselves for this coming kingdom? The gospel we know is full of references to the “kingdom of heaven” and these all flow from the teachings of Jesus. What though does John the Baptist offer as preparation for the coming of this kingdom? I think we have two clues to help us unfold the meaning of what he is saying.

Firstly, John proclaims his message in “the wilderness”, a place of unfamiliarity and dissonance. It is quite possible that we may feel somewhat disconnected from our society today. How can we prepare properly when we are so distracted or confused about our surroundings? Different and diverse elements can be unsettling, and we need to re-appraise or re-adjust our minds and thoughts to recognise how we can preach the gospel. We need to see these experiences not as negative factors, but as new openings that call for enlightened and new attitudes. We are constantly being called to prepare and adapt to the new landscape which we are being invited to explore. To change the wilderness into fertile pasture. Perhaps we should look at our new parish in this light? Am I prepared for the changes that are to happen? What is it that God is calling me to take on board with how the Church herself is adapting and preparing for what is coming.

The second clue comes with the word “repent”. It is a word that signifies action. We can’t sit passively and just expect repentance happen to us. We must get up and actively prepare ourselves for it to engage us. What or who is it that actively animates me and acts as the catalyst to motivate the change within me? John identifies the elemental necessities by citing the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives by baptism. The fire he speaks of is a fire that burns within us – did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road – the words of the two on the road to Emmaus as they trudged through the wilderness that they felt they were entering following the death of Jesus. Their hearts were prepared and changed by the active presence of the one who walked alongside them and whom they recognised in the breaking of the bread.

This was their moment of change, of repentance. This was their moment when the wilderness became the fertile land into which the seed of the gospel was to be sown. This was when they began to proclaim the gospel, the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Let it be ours too and let us prepare ourselves in like manner.