Tad Brain Power

 THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR C!

For today's homily, I came across the story about the faces in Da Vinci’s Last Supper. One of the world’s greatest portraits ever painted. This story reveals that when the painter Leonardo Da Vinci was painting The Last Supper, he had an intense and bitter argument with a fellow painter. Da Vinci began to think of a way to get back at this guy. He came up with a deceitful plan. He decided to paint the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot, so it would be captured for all time, and that is exactly what he did. When people came to look at his work, while it was still in progress, they immediately knew who “Judas” was. Da Vinci got great joy out of portraying this man as Judas Iscariot. But as he continued his work on the painting of Jesus and his disciples, he finally came to the face he had saved for the very end-the face of Jesus. But he drew a mental blank. He could not paint a thing. Finally, God convicted him and showed him the trouble he had painted the face of his enemy as the face of Judas Iscariot. He realized that his hatred and bitterness were keeping him from being able to face the face of Christ. So he went back to the image of Judas and repainted some unknown face. He went to his painter enemy, asked forgiveness, and they were reconciled. Then he went back and could clearly paint the face of Christ and complete his masterpiece. Be reconciled with your fellow human beings, says today's Gospel.

There is a penitential element to the season of Advent. The Advent season, besides being a season of joyful expectation, is also a season of repentance. This is symbolized by the violet colour of the vestments. John the Baptist is one of the central figures and our guide for the season of Advent. Today’s Gospel defines his role. He is to prepare the way of the Lord. But how does John prepare the way of the Lord? We might think that he does this simply by announcing that Jesus is coming. But I think his role is much deeper than that. John’s ministry is not about information. It is about formation. He is not only telling us about Jesus, he is forming us so that we will be able to receive Jesus.

In today’s Gospel, he appears preaching a baptism of repentance. That makes repentance a part of this season of Advent. It calls us to practice repentance during these weeks before Christmas. But what is repentance? There are several meanings to the term, but its most foundational sense is a call to change, to change something in our lives. We see that all of us have qualities in our lives that keep God out, that make the way of the Lord crooked and rough, that prevent Christ from coming into our hearts.

The season of Advent calls us to repent, to change anything that hinders Christ’s coming. Of all the things that hinder Christ’s coming, perhaps the most detrimental is any resentment that we have in our hearts against others. We see, when someone hurts us, when someone rejects us, when someone demeans us, our hearts fill with anger and pain. That pain makes our hearts hard. Our hearts become ready for battle, ready to strike back. When our hearts are hardened, it will be difficult for us to receive the grace of Christ. When our hearts are hardened by resentment, we cannot welcome the Prince of Peace in our hearts.

Therefore, this season of Advent asks us to examine whether we are carrying resentment against others? When someone hurts us, we prolong that pain by making it into a story and then telling and retelling that story over and over again. We make the pain permanent by giving it a narration by repeating over and again what happened, what someone said, how we felt. As we tell that story over and over again, we continue to give life to the hurt and to the pain.

The season of Advent calls us to let go of the stories of our hurt so that our hearts can heal. Yes, we have been hurt. Yes, we have been treated badly. But the only thing we accomplish by telling that story over and over again is to keep the pain alive. It is time to stop the story. Resentment builds a roughness into our lives. It twists our hearts. If Christ is coming to us, he needs a way that is straight and smooth.

The recognition of our inability to make things right reminds us of why we wait for Jesus. Jesus is coming. Of course, we can never forgive or let go of our hurt without God’s help. Advent is a time of grace. So this is the time to ask for that help, to let go of the story, to let go of the hurt, and prepare the way of the Lord, because it is only by finding the emptiness in our lives, in our world, in our church, that we will have the room to let Jesus in.