Reflection for the Second Week of Advent
Prepare the way of the Lord is echoed throughout the Advent season. It reminds us we don’t passively wait for the Lord to come, we actively facilitate His coming by making sure His path is clear. The faithful invite Jesus into their lives and hearts like a family invites guests into a home.
Growing up, Dad had a special term for how clean he wanted the living room, the kitchen, or whatever. When he wanted a room to be really cleaned, he’d say he wanted it “company-cleaned,” meaning that the family should clean it as if we were having company over to the house.
When guests are invited to a home, there is a certain pressure to put everything in order. Scrub the floors in all the nooks and crannies. Dust the forgotten corners. Get all the grime out of the soap dish. Make sure the stove top is rid of its month-old stains. A peculiar self-consciousness creeps in because suddenly you’re embarrassed about the marks on the wall even though you never gave them a second thought before. And on and on. Sometimes you can’t get the house as clean as you want it, so you have a few tricks up your sleeve to make it look clean. Everyone knows what I mean. You shove everything in the closet. You put rugs down to hide stains on the carpet. And on and on.
Sometimes our Advent preparations are like cleaning our house for a guest. If we’re to prepare the homes of our hearts to receive the Lord at Christmas, it seems fitting to sort of “tidy up.” The anticipation of Jesus’s coming sheds light in our hearts. Suddenly we see with more clarity the ways we’re uncharitable to others or negligent in prayer or attached to this or that vice. With that recognition of our faults can come two different reactions: 1) downplay or cover-up or 2) the drive (or anxiety) for ridding ourselves of it. It’s similar to our reactions to filth in our homes; we cover it up or we clean it up. But preparing our hearts for the Lord is not exactly like cleaning the house.
With our Lord, there’s no sweeping anything under the rug. There’s no shoving everything in the closet. For “not by appearance shall he judge,” as the first reading announces. We cannot go before the Lord at Christmas pretending everything is in order and we have our lives together. With the Lord, there are no masks or pretenses; we have nothing but our true selves. What then?
If we are honest with the Lord about our needs, weaknesses, and failures, we are able to have more intimate communion with Jesus Christ. Think of a time when you established a deeper connection with someone because you shared something personal, some weakness or vulnerability. It’s the same with our Lord. If we come to Him with a mask on and say, ”Everything’s fine,” we don’t leave room for Him to come deeper into our hearts. We miss out on what the Responsorial Psalm proclaims: “For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.”
This Advent we pray with great confidence for the grace to see ourselves as God sees us, with all of our faults and failings but cared for with infinite love. We praise God for the great and beautiful things He can do in us the season, and we trust ourselves to His goodness as we prepare for Him to come.