A Homily for the 2nd Sunday in Advent (B)
What do you think of when you think of a desert? Probably, like most people, you think of a dry, barren place where there is not much rain or even much life. I think most of us probably do not have a strong desire to be in a desert for any length of time. It might be an interesting place to visit, but only for a brief time. It can just seem so lifeless and lonely.
For those who have been actively pursuing the spiritual life for any length of time, they know that there are also spiritual deserts. The great Carmelite spiritual master, St. John of the Cross, referred to these spiritual deserts as the dark nights of the soul. During these “dark nights” God can seem so distant from us. We can even wonder if He loves us any more. Like environmental deserts, spiritual deserts can seem quite lifeless, barren and desolate. They are not fun places to be.
In today’s first reading from the book of Isaiah, we get a very different image of the desert. God, through the prophet, is calling Israel back to the desert as a means of renewing their relationship with Him. Scripture scholars tell us that the section of Isaiah that we heard today marks a transition. The first 39 chapters of the Book of Isaiah seems to have been written in the eighth century B.C., and focuses on the prophet calling the people to trust in the saving power of God, even as they face attack from the Assyrians. The second part of the Book of Isaiah, which we heard the beginning of today, seems to have been written in the middle of the sixth century B.C., probably by a disciple of Isaiah of Jerusalem. At this time the Israelites have been living in exile in Babylon as a conquered, defeated people. God’s saving power is recalled as the Israelites prepare to make the long trip across the desert to Jerusalem after having been released from exile by the new Babylonian king.
For the Israelite people this release from the Babylonian Exile is seen as a second Exodus. The prophet helps the people see that the desert, instead of being seen as just a barren and lifeless place, was in fact where their relationship with God was at its best for they completely entrusted themselves to His care. Another prophet, Hosea, describes the 40 years in the desert during the Exodus as the “honeymoon” period between Israel and YHWH.
Likewise, St. John of the Cross tells us that it is during the dark nights of the soul that the greatest spiritual growth is possible. Instead of seeing these dark nights as time of spiritual lifelessness, these dry periods of prayer are actually invitations to draw into an even more deeply intimate relationship with God but abandoning ourselves into His loving hands so that He can lead us even when we cannot see where.
God continues to invite into the desert to honeymoon with Him each Advent. In today’s Gospel we meet the great desert guide in the person of St. John the Baptist. St. John is the voice in the desert that Isaiah predicted, calling all people of faith into the desert to be purified of their sins.
Our sins are obstacles that make our path to God anything but straight. Like in physical deserts, there are mirages in the spiritual life. We call them temptations. We think we have found a better way, a shortcut, but in fact they are just leading us away from God. Instead of following God’s will, we follow our own. Advent is in fact a penitential season. Like the inhabitants of Jerusalem in today’s Gospel reading, we have to go out to God, waiting for us often in the desert, away from the distractions of this life, to repent of our sins, of all the laziness and self-indulgence that make our lives a spiritual wasteland. “We have to straighten out our lives, so that everything we do leads us to Him” (Breaking the Bread: A Monthly Publication of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, December 2005).
