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Dcn. Gary Koenigsknecht 2nd week of Advent, Year A, December 2013
Pope Francis just recently released a new document called “The Joy of the Gospel,”
which collects many of his thoughts so far from his papacy. These are his opening words to the
document, “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all those who encounter Jesus.
Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and
loneliness. With Christ, joy is constantly born anew.”
How many of us can hear those words from the Holy Father, and say, “yes, that defines
my life. I have that joy he is talking about.” Or, do we more so experience the sin, sorrow, inner
emptiness, and loneliness that Pope Francis speaks of? Whatever situation we find ourselves in
(usually we have a little bit of both!), these are very relevant questions, because we all desire that
joy that Pope Francis is speaking about. I raise this passage from Pope Francis because our
scripture readings today talk precisely about the grace and freedom that Jesus came to give.
We turn to our first reading from Isaiah, and in it we can find precisely what Pope Francis
was talking about – both the sense of loneliness, emptiness, and being far from God, and also the
great joy and peace that God can give. Isaiah begins with the image of a stump. Think about a
stump. What is a dead stump but the remnant of leafy green tree in its prime? Isaiah is
describing what our experience as humans in our fallen world apart from God is like. We know
as Christians that God had such wonderful things in mind for us when He created us – He
provided for all of our needs, walked with us, talked with us. He made us so that we could live
with Him forever. However, our sin, (sin is simply our walking away from that relationship with
God) intervened to ruin that plan. The great and wonderful life God intended for us has been
reduced to a lifeless stump. The image of a stump describes very well what we experience apart
from God, which is sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness as Pope Francis so aptly
described.
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However, the great reality of our faith is that God intervenes – He does not leave as dead
stumps scattered out in the field. We read in Isaiah, “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of
Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” This is speaking about Jesus. Jesus, the second
person of the Trinity, takes on flesh in a human nature to give us life again. Where our life has
been stolen away by sin in all its devastating effects, Jesus came to give us life again. What are
the effects of this new life that comes through Jesus? Isaiah describes it with an incredible
vision. The wolf shall be the guest of the lamb, and a young child shall guide a calf and lion
together. Even animals that were formerly enemies can suddenly live side by side. These images
give us an image of the type of peace and joy that Jesus came to give, such that even
incompatible things suddenly fit together. When we encounter Jesus and give ourselves over to
him personally, those parts of our life that seem askew, incompatible with our happiness, can
suddenly fit together in peace. We may even still have the same difficulties in our lives, such as
illness, or economic hardship, but in Christ we can have a peace that does not come from
ourselves. I can be suffering from an illness, or be looking for a job, but still have that joy and
peace of Jesus in my heart. Pope Francis had this to say about joy: “I can say that the most
beautiful and natural expressions of joy which I have seen in my life were poor people who had
little to hold on to. I also think about the real joy shown by others, who amid pressing
professional obligations, were able to preserve, in detachment and simplicity, a heart full of
faith.” We often can think we need our lives to be in a certain order before we can have joy and
peace, but Jesus is more powerful than that. The lion can dwell with the lamb. That is what
Jesus came to do for us, and wants to do for us.
We see a very similar image in the Gospel today, through the preaching of John the
Baptist. John writes of Jesus, “His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing
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floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
When wheat is harvested, the grain has to be separated from the hulls around it. Jesus came to
free us from the chaff in our lives that confines us, which are the very things that lead us
experience the sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness that Pope Francis speaks of. What is the
some of the chaff we can have in our lives? Often, the chaff is areas of our life that we do not
fully give over to God. The chaff can be areas of unrepentant sin, hurting relationships with a
spouse, or family, the co-worker we just do not see eye to eye. However, if we do not give these
things over to Jesus, but simply brood on them, He cannot work there.
That is the secret of Advent and our entire lives as Christians – making a personal
response to Jesus. Jesus has won our salvation and redemption, but in order for us to experience
that salvation, He needs our explicit response. We have to offer up our sins and areas of
resistance to the purifying fire of Jesus’ love and mercy.
We hear in the Gospel today, “Prepare
the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” How often do we make detours around those areas
of our life that we do not give over to Jesus, instead of giving Jesus a straight path directly to that
point of pain in our lives? Pope Francis recognized this fundamental dimension of our salvation
as well. He said in that introduction we heard at the beginning, “Those who accept his offer of
salvation are set free.” What is key for all this to happen is our accepting Jesus’ offer of
salvation. If we ask for Him to come to us to free us from sin and emptiness, Jesus will come
into our hearts even this day, and give us the peace and joy that Pope Francis was talking about.
Each and every one of us can have a personal relationship with God Himself. This is not just for
a few people, but for all of us.
What are some easy ways to make that explicit response to Jesus, so that we can start
experiencing some of that joy and peace that He came to give? Well, it does not have to be very
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hard. If we have never personally pledged our own faith in Jesus, or asked for Him to come into
our hearts, we can do that. Some of us may even have been Catholic our whole lives, been
coming to Mass, etc, but never personally asked Jesus to come into our hearts. We can say a
simple prayer along these lines, “Jesus, I recognize how unhappy I am without you. I am sorry
for my sins, and ask that you come into my heart and life.” When we pray like that, we are
lifting our lives up to Jesus, and surrendering ourselves over to Him. And guess what – God
shows up when we pray like that! It is amazing how much freedom there comes from doing that
– I can attest to that personally. We can pray this prayer here, or at home.
This type of surrendering ourselves to Jesus is something all of us are called to do
repeatedly throughout our lives. Perhaps part of that surrender will be to go to confession. If we
have not been to confession in a long time, Jesus is waiting there to free us from any burdens of
sin or shame that are holding us back. He is not there waiting to condemn, but to give us His
mercy and forgiveness. Fr. Louis hears confession on Wednesday evenings and Saturday
mornings, and is more than willing to do so for as long as necessary. Jesus wants to free us from
sin, sorrow, emptiness, and loneliness, to blow the chaff out of our lives, to give us a peace that
the world cannot give. But, He can only do so if let Him. So, let us use this Advent, and even
this day, as the turning point to give ourselves over to Jesus, or renew our surrender in Him.