This 2020 has not been the favorite year for many of us, I guess. And due to the current situation in our world, I wonder what chances do we have for a happy ending to this 2020? Since this pandemic began, so many unfavorable things have happened, not only globally, but also personally. Loved ones have faced illness, and some others have seen death up close. Neighbors and acquaintances of ours have also been affected due to the consequences of this global crisis, some have lost their jobs, and others due to illness have been unable to continue producing. In each family we have experienced the problem in a different way; loneliness, despair, vices, divorce, homelessness... all this has become present in our midst. There are many people who have completely lost hope.
But, nevertheless, today from the desert, a cry of good news is heard: “Prepare the way of the Lord! This is a very significant statement. The invitation to prepare "The way of the Lord" is not coming from the "sacred places", nor from the government offices. Most of us put our hope in these institutions, as if they have the power to save us. But the prophetic message of Scripture has always insisted that religion will not save us, straighten the economy, or promote the correct style of government. Neither human efforts nor institutions will assure us of being free from disease or immune to suffering, nor free from death.
The invitation to change is from the desert. The desert is a place where we DO NOT want to be, because there is no way to sustain human life there. At least there is no humanly possible way, we may remember the time when God sustained a nation in the desert for 40 years, providing them with water, bread, meat and protection. God chooses to work in the desert for us, because one thing is clear: If we survive the desert, it is by God's will and desire.
John the Baptist speaks from the desert to be the messenger of wonderful news. "Make your paths straight." We are the desert road that the Lord wishes to walk. Our hearts are the rough places that must be repaired for God to arrive. If we don't prepare our hearts, our lives will remain a barren landscape, a desert road. God cannot coexist with hatred, hardness of heart, envy, arrogance, or the spirit of violence. God lives in the spirit of love, humility, forgiveness, mercy, peace, and joy.
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