>Our favorite ethernet homilies come courtesy of Fr Vallee. Here is a portion:

… what was true for John the Baptist those many centuries ago in the deserts of Judea is no less true for us today in the different sort of desert that is Miami. The reason that many people do not find their God is that there is no room in their lives or their hearts for their God. We get so busy and so powerful and so competent at what we do that we no longer even really need God. In fact, we often act as if God needs us a lot more than we need God.

…
John the Baptist tells us and then he shows us. Prepare in your hearts a way for your God to get in. This means prepare a space of emptiness and humility. This means make ready a space of silence and stillness. Oddly enough, many people prepare for Christmas in exactly the wrong way. We shop and wrap and spend and drive and decorate and drink and eat and run around, as my Dad used to say, “like chickens with our heads cut off.” All this so that in the end we are so exhausted and so annoyed that there is no room or time or need for Christ. If you want to be your own Savior, you don’t need Jesus Christ for a Savior. If you want to get ready for Christmas in a way that will mean something, take a clue from John the Baptist. Go to a still and quiet place. First of all, tell yourself, quite clearly and repeatedly, that you are not the Messiah. You do no have the key to unlock the mystery of your heart. Then, in silence and humility, wait, watch and listen for the one who is the Messiah. Prepare the way of the Lord. Wait, watch and listen for Jesus Christ. This is the greatest gift you can give yourself and those you love. It is even better than a 72 inch HDTV or a 10 carrot diamond.

As an act of faith, I’m not going to question his 72 inch HDTV example.

Fr Vallee’s homily is copied in full at end of post. If interested in being added to his email list for his homilies, please send an email to: Cioran262@aol.com

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Advent Homily – Fr Valle
I. Prepare the way

John the Baptist is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Before John, there had been no authentic prophet in Israel for three hundred years. His voice, from the desolation of the desert by the Dead Sea, breaks a long and barren silence. John says of himself: “I am the voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord..” It is as though John is saying, “I speak to lead him into your hearts, but he will not and cannot come lest you prepare the way for him.”

II. Prayer = humility
To prepare well means to pray well; it means to think humbly of oneself. John the Baptist shows us exactly what this means. He is thought to be the Christ; he is presumed to be the Messiah. He declares he is not who they think he is. He does not take advantage of the crowd’s mistake to glorify himself. If he had said, “I am the Christ,” they would have believed him because they already thought he was the Messiah before he even spoke. But he did not say it. Instead, he admitted clearly and simply who he was and who he was not. In short, he humbled himself. He saw where his salvation lay. He understood that he was a lamp and his fear was that it might be blown out by the winds of pride. John is like a telephone operator. He is there to connect us to Christ and then to fade away

III. Same for us
Of course, what was true for John the Baptist those many centuries ago in the deserts of Judea is no less true for us today in the different sort of desert that is Miami. The reason that many people do not find their God is that there is no room in their lives or their hearts for their God. We get so busy and so powerful and so competent at what we do that we no longer even really need God. In fact, we often act as if God needs us a lot more than we need God.

IV. A Bad Homily
I heard a homily on TV once — mercifully not Catholic – that said that we had to become warriors for Christ that we had to stand up and fight for God in the modern world because God was powerless without us! My God! What a horrible mix of confusion and heresy. We don’t defend God; God defends us; we don’t save Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ saves us. The idea that God needs us to protect God is presumptuous, arrogant and absurd. But, more than that, it is spiritual death and spiritually deadly. If you or I are so full of ourselves, our power, our position or our importance, then there really is no room for God and no need for God.

V. Conclusion
John the Baptist tells us and then he shows us. Prepare in your hearts a way for your God to get in. This means prepare a space of emptiness and humility. This means make ready a space of silence and stillness. Oddly enough, many people prepare for Christmas in exactly the wrong way. We shop and wrap and spend and drive and decorate and drink and eat and run around, as my Dad used to say, “like chickens with our heads cut off.” All this so that in the end we are so exhausted and so annoyed that there is no room or time or need for Christ. If you want to be your own Savior, you don’t need Jesus Christ for a Savior. If you want to get ready for Christmas in a way that will mean something, take a clue from John the Baptist. Go to a still and quiet place. First of all, tell yourself, quite clearly and repeatedly, that you are not the Messiah. You do no have the key to unlock the mystery of your heart. Then, in silence and humility, wait, watch and listen for the one who is the Messiah. Prepare the way of the Lord. Wait, watch and listen for Jesus Christ. This is the greatest gift you can give yourself and those you love. It is even better than a 72 inch HDTV or a 10 carrot diamond. Come Lord Jesus!
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