Preached on Sunday, December 10, 2017

There’s an intersection of two main roads in downtown Birmingham that is referred to as “Malfunction Junction”!

It acquired that name because its poor design has contributed to a good number of accidents and traffic jams and hot tempers ever since it opened in 1970.

Over the past year and continuing into next year ... great amounts of money

and effort are being spent to remedy this big travel problem.

As you drive through Birmingham, you can see the progress of their work.

trees have been removed, rock formations have been dynamited, and the level of the ground is being raised or lowered to more smoothly connect I-65 to I-20/59.

What exactly are they doing?

• They’re lowering mountains and filling in valleys.
• They’re removing rock and spreading
• They’re building trestles and bridges.
• They’re closing roads and adding new ones.

Why are they doing this?

They’re doing all this … so that people can travel safely to their destination.

While you might call all this work “construction”,    it’s really more than that …

It’s construction for sure … but it’s also “de-struction” and “re-construction”.

Yes ... they’re taking down ... and building up ....

to provide a smooth, safe journey for many.

For me, it’s easy to see how all that work that is taking place on the roads …

represents the work that needs to be taking place in our lives

as we strive to travel safely through this life ... on the road to Heaven.

This is the one road where we don’t want to encounter a “Malfunction Junction”

as we travel down the Highway to Heaven.

In our First Reading, the Prophet Isaiah foretells that the day would come when

“A voice (would) cry out in the desert prepare the way of the Lord!”

And what would that preparation look like? Isaiah says:

“Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low …

Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.”

And sure enough, the first verse of Mark’s Gospel, just proclaimed, announced:

“As is written in Isaiah the prophet:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.”

And indeed he did!    God’s messenger was the holy man, John the Baptist.

John the Baptist appeared on the scene in advance of his cousin Jesus ... to prepare the people to receive ... Jesus’ message and His forgiveness thru the Holy Spirit.

So, John announced, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”

John performed a baptism … but not a baptism that forgave sins.

Rather, his was a baptism of repentance to prepare them for the forgiveness of sins.

What happened when John cried out for people to prepare themselves for the Lord?

Mark records in his Gospel that:

“People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem

were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River

as they acknowledged their sins.”

What does that tell you?

It tells you that people know they are sinners.

The people knew it 2000 years ago … and we people know it today.

We are sinners. All of us are guilty of offending God and neighbor,

   We do this regularly ... and we do it often ... don’t we?

So then what do we need to do... for us to be ready for the day of the Lord?

We need to repent of our past sins and turn our lives around

by mending our ways and making straight our paths.

We need to lower the mountains of our pride ...

and fill in the valleys of our love.

Yes, we need to demolish those habits that are sinful ... and ...

we need to build bridges of love between God and neighbor.

If John the Baptist felt that the people of his time needed

to prepare their way and make straight their paths,

how much more do we today need to take action

to prepare our ways and make straight our paths!

That’s the purpose of the 3 - 4 week season of Advent ...

that the Church gives us prior to Christmas.

It’s the special season where we prepare to celebrate

the First coming of Jesus as Savior and Lord in Bethlehem 2017 years ago.

And, it’s the special season where we prepare for ...

the Second coming of Jesus as King and Judge at the end of time.

So, while we’re preparing our hearts and our homes to celebrate His First coming … we should also be preparing our hearts and our souls for His Second coming.

Oh ... how important this is...

for it will determine ... whether we stay on the road to Heaven, or not.

In our Second Reading today, St. Peter warns us of the Second Coming, saying: , “the day of the Lord will come like a thief,

and the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar.”

It’s an image that naturally fills us with fear and trembling.

So, Peter asks the question, “Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,

what sort of persons ought you to be?”

And he guides us, “Conduct yourselves in holiness and devotion and …

be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him.”

Are you ready for the Final Judgment?

There’s only one way to get ready … and that’s to repent of our sins and

turn away from committing any more.

God will forgive us if we repent and change our ways.

Peter says today, “God is patient with you,

not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

I urge you to take advantage of this Season of Advent and go to Confession.

There is simply no better way to prepare yourself for the celebration of Christmas.

Tomorrow night, Monday, the 11^th of December,

3 Priests will be available here to hear confessions for 3 hours!

Fr. Tom ... Fr. Rick ... and myself will begin to hear confessions at 6 PM and will stay as long as we need to.

Fr. Tom will be in the Cry Room, Fr. Rick will be in the Music Room, and I will be in the Confessional.

Fr. Rick and Fr. Tom can hear confessions in both Spanish and English.

Come at 6 or 6:30 or 7 or 7:30 or 8 and get in line and pray and prepare yourself ...

to make a good confession and be forgiven of your sins!

You know ... John the Baptist wasn’t the only Holy person that God sent

to remind people to get ready for His Son.

No, God has sent many people over the years.

And 500 years ago, God sent His Most Holy Mother

to remind the people of Mexico to get ready for His Son.

For they were worshipping false Aztec gods and offering child sacrifice to them.

So, Mary, the Mother of the One True God appeared to the man Juan Diego on his way to Mass and asked him to approach the Bishop to have a Temple built there as a place of healing for the Mexican people.

After presenting the Bishop with Roses in winter and his own Tilma (shawl) that had been miraculously marked with the image of Mary as a young Mexican woman, the Temple was built and some 8 Million Mexicans became Catholic!

The shawl that should have crumbled to dust long ago retains its beautiful color to this day... enshrined over the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Mexico.

In the image, Mary’s head is bowed in humility and her hands are folded in prayer to God. Under her feet is a crescent moon, a symbol of the old Aztec religion.

The message is clear, Mary is more powerful than the Aztec gods, yet she herself is not God.

John the Baptist’s call 2000 years ago and Mary’s call 500 years ago is the same call to all of us today ... “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.”  

Just as safely navigating the roadways through Birmingham

involves years of preparation,

So too, safely navigating the roadways through our life

involves years of preparation.

It involves construction … building bridges between God and neighbor.

It involves de-construction … removing sinful thoughts and actions from our day

It involves re-construction … replacing malfunction junctions (such as wasting time) ... with highways to heaven (such as prayer and good works).

As we continue in Advent, let’s be glad of ...

God’s never-ending love for us ...

His on-going call to repentance ...

and His offer to have the joy of Christmas forever in Heaven!