Third Sunday of Advent C. December 14, 2003. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30. Zephaniah 3: 14-18a, Philippians 4:4-7. Luke 3: 10-18.

A group of religious leaders visited Mother Teresa in Calcutta to witness firsthand the work she was doing with the poor. At one point she turned to the group of religious men and women and said, “If you try to do what I am doing, then you will be able to enjoy what I am doing.” She then picked up a child who was playing in the dirt and gave him a kiss. She waited for her supposedly religious visitors to do the same, but nobody did.

An old man sat shivering outside of one of the most famous churches in the city of Rome. He was a beggar. The winter days were wet and cold and most people ignored the old man as they hurried into the famous church. Finally a very curious teenager went up to the old man and said, “Why are you sitting here all day doing nothing? Why don’t you get a job like everyone else?” The old man said, “I am doing my job. I am sitting her waiting for the Messiah to come.” The teenager replied, “Can’t you wait for the Messiah while you are doing more productive things? – just look at how dirty and smelly you are!” The old man looked at the teenager and he loved him because the boy cared enough to talk to him. The old man said to the teen, “My boy, I will tell you a secret. The people who hurry in and out of the church are good people and they mean well, but unless they look for the Messiah among the poor they will never find him. As long as they turn their eyes away from me they will never find the poor child who was born in a stable and placed in a manger. My job is to remind them to look for Jesus among the poor. The old man reached out his hand to the young man and said, “I have a very important job. It can help you find and save your soul. Thank you for asking.”

The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” John said, “Whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do the same.”

John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. John was a very straightforward and practical man. When people asked what they were to do to prepare for the coming of the Messiah and to be saved he did not talk about unusual religious pilgrimages or rituals. He didn’t even talk about Bible reading and prayer - as important as these things are. John asks us to do the simple and ordinary responsibilities of every day life and to do them well.

John the Baptist said to tax collectors- “Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.” In other words, do you business honestly and responsibly, that is the way we are to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

John said to soldiers, “Do not practice extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.” In other words we are to be kind and peaceful in the way we live our every day lives.

I would think that a great person like John the Baptist and a powerful book like the Bible would have better advice than simply to tell us to live our daily lives well. If we do our daily duty and we do it well we will be preparing for the coming of the Messiah.

You may have noticed that I have lost more than twenty pounds lately. For the last several years I have dealt half-heartedly with diabetes. The doctor has warmed me that I needed to lose weight and if I did not the consequences could be very serious. I assure you it would have been easier to pray an extra Rosary or to spend more time in prayer – and I am sure that prayer helped me. The fact of the matter is that God wanted me to stop eating. I have learned that sugar effects the way I feel, the way I sleep and the way I act. I am not talking about fasting or about looking good to attract attention. Not eating for me is about living a responsible life to prepare for the coming of the Messiah. That is what God expects.

If you asked John the Baptist, “What are we to do?” what do you thing he would say? Perhaps it would be “Stop smoking, it is very bad for your health.” Or it could be that he would say, “Be more careful about your consumption of alcohol, drugs or the way you dabble with pornographic material – these things cause blindness of heart and keep us from welcoming the Messiah.”

John the Baptist may tell us to be more attentive to kindness, justice and goodness in the way we conduct our business, or he may tell us to spend more time with our children or to be more sensitive to our wife or husband.

John the Baptist makes it clear that God is not asking us to do something extraordinary or heroic. God is asking us to prepare for the coming of the Messiah by doing the ordinary things of life carefully and well. One of our eighth graders told me the story of a teen who was walking along the seashore throwing starfish back into the sea, that had washed up on the shore to die in the sun. A friend said to him, “There are thousands of them. How can you ever hope to make a difference?” As the young man picked up another starfish to throw it back into the sea he said, “I can’t help them all, but to this one it makes a difference – a very big difference.” In the end we will find and welcome the Messiah when we realize that we too are poor, and that we have nothing to offer to God but the ordinary things of our lives lived with great love. For the challenge to live the ordinary duties of life with faith and love we give God thanks and praise.