Robert Barron - Have You Wandered Away from God?
Peace be with you. Friends, we come to the second Sunday of Advent and there's a lot of talk about building highways. Now, what is going on there and why is that being used as a spiritual symbol? Well, first of all, remember the importance in the Bible, both Old Testament and New of this theme of exile. Very often Israel finds itself in exile. Think of the slavery in Egypt. Think of the Assyrian exile of the northern tribes. Think of the Babylonian exile of the southern tribes. Israel being sent away from its own promised land. And so a great hope, and you hear it throughout the Bible, is that one day the exiles and the slaves will return. They'll come back to their homeland. So exile and return is a major motif.
Well, listen. Now, our first reading is from the prophet Baruch. Baruch was a friend of Jeremiah. He was a kind of secretary to Jeremiah. Listen to this. "Up, Jerusalem. Stand upon the heights. Look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the West at the word of the holy one". Well, what's being referenced here is something very specific actually. The Babylonian exiles, those who've been taken away from Jerusalem and Judea and brought to Babylon, and now at this time, they're making their way back. And so Baruch is sort of exalting in, "Hey, hey, everybody. Look, here they come. There's a highway leading the exiles back home".
Listen to this again, "Led away on foot by their enemies, they left you, but God will bring them back to you. Born a loft in glory as on royal thrones". What he's saying is, "I know that they were taken away as these poor prisoners in degradation and humiliation, but now when they come back on the highway that God has built, they'll be like kings and princes on royal thrones". The motif is God is going to build a highway upon which his exiled people will come home. Okay. You say, "Well, that's very interesting ancient history about Babylon and Israel and the exiles coming back long ago. But why are we reading this text and why am I preaching on it for Advent"? Because exile, everybody, functions in the Bible as a symbol of spiritual exile.
So there were these literal political exiles, but think of them now as symbolic of all the ways that we tend to wander from God. The promised land or the holy land represents friendship with God, that we're in intimacy with him. We're following his commands. We're living as his friends. Exile, slavery, all those ways that we wander away from God and we find ourselves spiritually speaking in a distant land. St.Augustine beautifully talks about the land of unlikeness. So we're made in the image and likeness of God, and we're meant to live in accord with that. But we wander into this land of dis-similitude. He says, "The land of unlikeness".
So fellow sinners, and this is a very important Advent theme. Fellow sinners, we are all exiles. Every one of us. In the measure that we sin, in the measure that we are stuck in the slavery of sin, we find ourselves in a distant land, lonely, isolated, alienated. Remember the great Advent hymn? "Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel, that mourns and lonely exile here". That's the theme. So when you hear that hymn, and trust me, you've heard it already probably during Advent, and it's wonderful of course. Haunting melody, beautiful words. That's what it's talking about. "Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel. Ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile".
What are they asking for? Lord, when are you going to build a highway so we can come back to you? That's what Baruch is talking about. That's why we're reading this text even now. Okay, let's put some meat on these bones, maybe. So what does this spiritual exile look like? Maybe better, what does it feel like? Well, think of addiction, self-absorption, indifference to the things of God. Materialism, moral relativism, inability to forgive. Think of all of these as blocks. Or stay with the biblical imagery, think of them as great mountains that are blocking our access to the promised land. Or think of them as great valleys that are obstructing and making difficult the journey back. What do we hear in the prophet Isaiah? God's going to level the mountains. He's going to fill in the valleys so that now there's a nice flat, straight highway to him. That's where we're longing for, what we're begging for.
Now, who's Jesus? Oh, interesting prophet. No, no, no. A compelling teacher from long ago. No, no. What does he say about himself? "I am the way, the truth and the life". Stay with that first one. I am the way. I'm the highway. I'm the path. I'm the route. Why did the Lord send Jesus into our world? That he might be the way back. So if you feel like you're living in Babylon, you feel like you're in slavery in Egypt, you're spiritually isolated, you want to come home, the way has been laid out before you. The building of the highway in a certain way, it's done. It's done. Jesus is the way. You want to come home? And maybe again, some listening to me right now, maybe you feel, "I'm so far from God. I've wandered so far away from the life of the church. I've not been to the sacraments in ages and confession or the Eucharist, and I'm so sunk in my sin. There's no way". No, no Advent's your time.
Listen, Advent is your time. And Jesus has been offered to you as the way. He's the leveling of the mountains. He's the filling in of the valleys. Walk behind him. How often we hear that in the Gospels, don't we? Come follow me. Come after me. I'm the gate. Enter by way of me. See, it's the same idea. He's the highway. Okay, so that's one side of it, if you want. There's a lot of talk about God preparing a highway. But there's another side to it, and we hear it in the Gospel today, which is referring to John the Baptist, who's a great Advent figure. So he's describing his mission, right? And who is he? "I'm the voice of one crying out in the desert. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths". And here it is. "Every valley shall be filled. Every mountain shall be made low. All flesh shall see the salvation of God".
God provides a highway, yes, in Jesus, but is there also work for us to do? Can I lay on you a good Catholic principle? God created us without our cooperation. That's true. We weren't there to cooperate, right? That was a sheer grace. But he can't save us without our cooperation. Now, don't read that as, "Well, God's being difficult". It's just spiritual logic. See, what's salvation, but the love for God. It's the awakening of love. That can only happen through an act of our freedom and our cooperation. Yes, Jesus is there. He's the way. But follow me. Now, you got to cooperate. You got to get on the path. So the other side of the Advent challenge everybody, is we have to do some highway building too. We've got to do some knocking down of mountains and filling in of valleys.
We have to again, prepare the way of the Lord, a highway now to meet the highway that God has constructed. So can I give you just in a few minutes some suggestions? How do you do this? How do you prepare? Pray. Number one, pray. That means open your mind and your heart to God. It means turn to God in conversation, the way you would with a friend. Speak to God. And you say, "Oh, Bishop, I've been away from church for so long, the sacraments, and I haven't prayed in forever". Follow what Josemaría Escrivá said, if you don't know how to pray, all you got to do is say, "Lord, I don't know how to pray," and you're already praying, right? It's as simple as that. Turn to God. Ask the blessed mother to help by the way, but turn to God.
Say, "Lord, I don't even know how to pray, but that bishop told me to pray. So what do I say"? You're already praying. Maybe there's that rosary that is gathering dust somewhere in a drawer. Maybe your grandmother used to pray it and you have it, but you've not prayed it. Maybe it's hanging from your rearview mirror, but you haven't actually prayed it. Pray it this Advent. Pray, pray. Come back to mass if you've been away, and of course a lot of Catholics have been away from mass. That's a sermon for another day. But here's your time. Hear the voice of the Lord saying, "Prepare the way". I laid out the highway, Jesus.
All right, get on. Walk it. Go to mass. Go to mass. Here's second recommendation. If there's some addiction in your life, and you know addiction, it's an ancient problem. They call it concupiscence back in the old days, but addiction, I think we name it today. It's turning anything other than God into God. And then you become obsessed with it because it can't satisfy the longing of your heart. People addicted to booze and to drugs and to sex and to pornography, it's rampant problem in our society.
If there's an addiction in your life, and I know you can't just snap your fingers and it goes away, but make a resolution this Advent, to cut it out, to do something, to take a step, to turn your life over to God and say, "Lord, I'm in the grip of this thing and I can't control it. I turn it over to you". Address an addiction this Advent. Third recommendation, if there's some besetting sin in your life, do something about it this Advent. Maybe it's pride. Then take the lowest place on purpose this Advent. You know what I mean?
You'll find a way in your life where you're pride's telling you, "Hey, I'm going to do this". Do the opposite. Take the lowest place. Maybe envy's your problem. Find someone that you're envious of and on purpose, praise that person. Say something nice about him or her. Maybe avarice is your problem. You like the things of the world too much. Try some poverty this Advent. Maybe give away some of the things you have. Maybe find a way to literally give money you have to the poor. Be generous.
Now, there's a thousand more things I could say. Go through the seven deadly sins. I just did three of them there. Go through the seven deadly sins and say, "Lord, they probably all have a grip on me. Can I do something to address this besetting sin"? Do it, do it this Advent. And I know you've been putting it off. I know, I know. But this is the moment. The Lord has built the highway. He's laid out Jesus as the way. Come to meet him. Come to meet him. Knock down mountains that are blocking the way. Fill in valleys that are blocking the way, and then you'll be ready, at least more ready to meet the Lord when he comes. Adventus. And God bless you.