Preparing the Royal Highway
Interior Conversion and the Urgency of Evangelization
How many images or phrases come to your mind with each Advent?
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
“Prepare the Royal Highway”
“The Kingdom of God is at hand.”
The Advent Wreath marking time before the imminent coming of Christ.
Perhaps the familiar images and texts of Advent lead us first of all to examine our own lives, which is a good and essential practice; we ask the Lord to purify in us any and all obstacles to Christ’s presence within us and to others through us. This purification is ultimately a joyful and peaceful process, because anything that is not of God would never truly satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts anyway. Let us progress through this Advent season with prayer and penance, continuing everyday along the path of conversion to the Lord.
The Church presents to us today with passage from the Gospel of Matthew and the wisdom of Saint Francis Xavier, which reveal to us another element of our Advent discipline: the urgency of evangelization. First, the Gospel from Mass today:
As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
“Son of David, have pity on us!”
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?”
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him.
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
And their eyes were opened.
Jesus warned them sternly,
“See that no one knows about this.”
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.
—Matthew 9:27-31 (emphasis added).
Christ’s presence and activity in our lives heals many types of blindness. In your prayer, ask the Lord to reveal to you anything in your life that might be a blinder or a blindspot. He desires to remove it and fill your heart with His light and truth. As the two blind men maintained their faith in Christ despite their physical inability to see, so must we hold fast to our knowledge that Christ desires to heal and can heal us of any type of blindness. Perhaps the thought that we need to be healed of anything involves guilt or shame; however, there is nothing under heaven that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. He blesses His people we peace, and He gives us the grace we need to share the Good News with others. Do not be afraid to be healed by Christ, and do not underestimate how your story can be an inspiration to hope for others.
We also have the wisdom of Saint Francis Xavier, whose feast day is today. In one of his letters to Saint Ignatius (written around 1542 and 1544), he articulated the urgent need of proclaiming the Gospel throughout educated European culture, particularly in academia:
“I wish they would work as hard at [the Christian life] as they do at their books, and so settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them. This thought would certainly stir most of them to meditate on spiritual realities, to listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires, their human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God’s will and His choice. They would cry out with all their heart: Lord, I am here! What do you want me to do? Send me anywhere you like…”
Spreading the Gospel at any time and in any climate begins with you personally, recognizing the truth of God’s grace in your life—wrought by Christ on the Cross, yes, but begun at His humble Birth at Christmas. As Saint Francis Xavier points out, our learning and talents (and experiences) are entrusted to us by God; they are good; and they become, by His grace, the means by which His truth is shared.
Prayer: Lord, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path (Psalm 119:105). Help me to know my blindness, blinders, and blindspots, and open the eyes of my heart to the light of Your truth. Help me to recognize my learning, my talents, and my experiences (both good and bad) as gifts from You, so to make of them instruments of sharing Your Gospel. Thus, with peace in my heart, I will recount all Your praise and rejoice in Your saving help. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Action (any of the following): 1) Once you become aware of a blindness, blinder, or blindspot in your life, ask the Lord to heal it and remove it. Be proactive in rooting it out practically and in a disciplined way. 2) Share the story of God’s presence and activity in your life. Ask the Lord for the grace and wisdom to recognize appropriate times to share it, and for the words to articulate it. 3) Be present to others who have a story to share, even only to listen. As “connected” as technology might make us feel these days, perhaps we all know how superficial these connections might be. Pope Francis’ attention to accompaniment presumes friendship based in truth. Add to your prayers all those who struggle with loneliness and feel as though they have no one to accompany them.