Fr Billy Swan
Dear friends. In a recent poll taken in the UK, a staggering 40% of people said that Jesus Christ was a fictional character who never actually existed. But they are wrong. Whether we believe that Jesus was the Son of God or not, it is simply incorrect to think that he never existed. Even the pagan Roman historians record his existence and activity around Jerusalem and Palestine in the first century.
When I visited the Holy Land a few years ago, we visited places where Jesus was, where he stood and spoke to those who saw him and heard him. That is why in today’s Gospel, St Luke goes to such effort to describe the political and religious context when John the Baptist began his ministry, just before the birth of Christ. It was the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign when Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, etc. Why are these historical details so important? Because Luke wants to show that at a specific moment in history, in a defined place, something extraordinary happened and because it did, the world has never been the same since.
At this time of year, as we prepare for Christmas, there can be a sense of celebrating something but not being sure of what we are celebrating. With all the layers around the Christmas celebrations and traditions, we too can be lulled into a sense of the Christmas story being nice and sentimental but one that has little impact on my life today and on our world now. Therefore, there is an urgent need for us to hear the radical implications of the meaning of Christmas and what it means for us and for the world at this time in history: that we ‘prepare a way for the Lord and make his paths straight’.
So then, in the year of 2024 during the Presidency of Michael D. Higgins and during the Pontificate of Pope Francis, the Word of God comes to us and cries out ‘prepare a way for the Lord and make his paths straight’. Preparing the way and making his path straight means removing the obstacles that prevent a spiritual revolution that God wants to take place today in every person who engages with the Christmas story.
What are these obstacles? They can be memories of sadness or loneliness that come to the surface at this time of year that we cling to and don’t open up to God for healing. They can include a deep-seated indifference that refuses to be moved by the humility and goodness of God, that prefers to remain at a safe distance from Him and the full practise of our faith.
Other obstacles can be deep resentments, persistent fault-finding, unwillingness to forgive or be forgiven and a dishonesty in our dealings with others. It could be a cold indifference to the plight of others who suffer or a laziness to bring healing, peace and mercy in new ways, to people who might have begun to despair. Whatever are the obstacles, if we remove them, then God will come and intervene, change us and change our world.
In every age of Christianity, the witness and actions of Christians possessed by the Spirit of Christ have helped change the world for the better. In millions of small but united ways, the actions of Christians have changed the course of history. The same can happen again today, in history and in time where Christ is born again in hearts who welcome him.
Let us not just drift into another Christmas. Prepare the way, remove those barriers whatever they might be and make his paths straight. Welcome Jesus Christ to be Lord of all your life and not just parts of it. Let us prepare for the best of what our God is prepared to give this Christmas.
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