Alberic Jacovone OSB
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YEAR B
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT - 4.12.05
Is 20,1-5.9-11; 2 Pet 3,8-14; Mk 1,1-8
A monk (or a Nun) in me ?
Inner
yearnings & convictions. Even though Advent started last Sunday, only today we meet Mark &
start his Gospel. Today, he makes his grand entry by shouting: “the Good-News
of Jesus Christ, Son of God”. Immediately after that, Mark ushers
‘John-Baptist’, not simply as the last prophet who pointed to Jesus &
proclaimed him to be ‘Christ & God’s Son’. For Mark, John is both a
model for every troubled Christian in search of meaning, & a fearless
promoter of justice with whom we must identify. Sooner or later in life we all
go through periods of confrontation with our deepest yearnings. When this
happens (perhaps at times of tragedies & deep hurt) we notice the surge of
energies that were dormant in us: we may feel dissatisfied & dreadful, even
jolted into shock & outrage... But only then, we are confronted with our
deepest convictions. Advent puts us in touch with these yearnings: & so,
it’s a lot more that waiting (passively) for the Lord to come. It wants to
give us a creative religious energy, a desire to imitate the overwhelming
example of John the Baptist. We all need to re-awaken in us, the sense of the
sacred & the call to the desert; a desire to retreat into the wilderness
within & listen to the voices that are there... there may be cries of those
who are often trampled in the business of life, & there may be yearning
for intimacy with God. It’s this kind of opportunity that we seek in
Advent: a frightful & fascinating experience of being in the Lord’s
presence - energized by silence & stillness & urged into justice for
all. Yes: this week, let’s spend quality time in the wilderness within:
listening - attending to inner hurts - forging a path for our God. It’s the
Baptist, a fierce prophet, we identify with. Yes, let’s pray with those
who have helped us or we have helped, to make a path for God.
Listening
to “the Monk (or Nun) in me”. For Mark’s Gospel, John the Baptist is very prominent indeed: not
only because of what he did & said, & died a martyr’s death!, but
because he stands as a model & example of what we are called to be: he is
“fore-runner” for Jesus & for us. Of all people in the New testament,
John is the first to with-draw in the wilderness of the Judean desert, (Jesus
too spent 40 days there!) & there he spent years, reflecting on the evils of
his time, living a life of self-denial & asceticism & wearing a garment
made of home-spun camel hair, the typical harsh dress of a prophet. Of course,
he spent much time praying, seeking an intimacy with God & seeking also the
enlightenment as to where the Lord
would send him. It took years of asceticism & of awesome ‘solitude with
God’, to mature John into a fearless, charismatic prophet, who then returned
among God’s people, & warned them to prepare a way for the Lord, away from
the perverse prevailing generation. In John, the early Christians & all
converts & saints of every age, found the desire to imitate him by becoming
monks & nuns. By the thousands they flew into the wilderness in search of
peace, harmony with God & a life of loving concern for the needy. The whole
monastic movement in Eastern & Western Christianity took John the Baptist as
an “icon” for their solitary life-style & desert mind-set. The ‘Life
of Anthony’ of Egypt, tells how countless men & women peopled the
wilderness, in search of inner transformation. When they returned among their
people, they had become fearless leaders, able teachers of Christian wisdom
& wonder-workers. We too, need to energize ‘the Monk or Nun which is in
us’, as a yearning to retreat into the wilderness within, & listen &
stay still with our God & deal with human hurts... &...
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