Real Change for Good (Advent II)

This week a voice cries in the wilderness, 'Prepare a Way for the Lord,' as Elizabeth and Zechariah's son is re-introduced as John the Baptist.

With his camel hair garments and diet of locusts, John is portrayed as an outsider. But the crowds flock to him nonetheless - 'from Jerusalem, all Judea and the whole Jordan district.' It's no wonder the Pharisees and Sadducees have come down to see what is happening and move with the crowd.

And it is this which sets up the delivery of the key message of this Sunday's Gospel - REPENT!

As the outsider, John challenges the leaders of the people with, frankly, violent images of fire and axes laid to the roots of trees. But he doesn't say that their destruction is inevitable. The alternative is for them to repent.

The common understanding of repentance is being sorry for what you have done, but in the language of the Church repentance is about more. It is about change, and more specifically a change of heart.

In his first letter to the Church Pope Leo spelled out what this means - a change from living a life centred on the accumulation of material wealth and social success, to a life centred on charity. From being self-centred, to being concerned with the good of all.

Not just praying to be able to enter into God's Kingdom, but to live a life that makes it real, here and now.

In my own parish, our local Vinnies chapter invites the community to give as generously to those in need as we do to those of our family and friends whose Christmas is likely to be more comfortable. And this is a great thing to do. But what about the rest of the year?

If Advent is about a change of heart, not just a change of liturgical colour, how can I commit myself to live a life with charity at its centre long after the Christmas tree is packed away?

And how can I give of myself, my time and my talents in a way that will change my life, and the life of my community, not just the weight of my wallet?

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