Today we hear the exhortation of St John the Baptist: "'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight'." (Mark 1: 4) In New Zealand we constantly see work being done on motorways to straighten them so as to make travel by motor vehicles quicker, safer and easier. By analogy, Advent is a time when we seek to straighten out the twists and turns in our spiritual and moral life so as to make the movement of the Holy Spirit easier and more effective in our lives. When I am distracted by anger, frustration, hurt feelings, resentment and bitterness I am less able to receive the Lord in my heart. Let us not emulate the secular world for whom the celebration of Christmas concludes on Christmas Day. We have the whole of Christmastide to rejoice in the birth of our Saviour and enter into the mystery of the Incarnation through the great feasts of that season. For us Advent is a time of spiritual reflection and preparation for anticipating the Second Coming and celebrating the First Coming even if we have secular obligations to attend to. Integral to our spiritual preparation is the sacrament of penance. It is an ideal way to enact the spiritual roadworks that open up my soul to the Lord who loved us so much that he not only became human like us but also died for us while we were still sinners: "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - although perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 6-8)
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