Gospel: Luke 3: 1-6
None of us likes road construction. It is tiresome and inconvenient. But once it is completed we do indeed like the results: smoother roads, more convenient routes to various places, less traffic congestion. In order to realize these effects we must endure the hard work and inconvenience that goes with it. This same phenomenon occurs within the spiritual life as well where we find the road of our soul to be in need of many improvements.
We go about those improvements when we strive to live as Jesus invites us to live, when we imitate the way Jesus lived - by showing love and mercy to others. When we undertake the mission of healing, liberating, and feeding others as Jesus did, we participate in the repair of our own spiritual road. As God has healed and restored us, so we too must become instruments of healing and restoration for others.
Advent is not about awaiting Jesus' first coming; that occurred already. It is also not really about awaiting Jesus' second coming, whatever that might be. Advent is about encountering the coming of Christ each day in the presence of other people, in the opportunities present each day to show love and mercy to others whether we know them or not. In accepting and caring for a person as another Christ, we begin to repair the roads of our spirit, and those of others.
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