Vigils Reading – 2nd Sun of Advent

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD

From a sermon by St Francis de Sales1

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NOW, since our divine Savior is near, what must we do to prepare for his

coming? St. John tells us this when he says in his preaching, that we must do

penance. All must do this without exception, for as we are all sinners, we all have

need of penance.

But that is too general: let us hint at certain particular features. St. John has

pointed out some in the Gospel. “Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten out his

paths,” he says, “every valley is to be bridged, and the rough paths made into

smooth roads.”

“Do penance,”

… that is to say, humble these mountains of pride, fill these

lukewarm and faint-hearted valleys because salvation is at hand. Now these

valleys that this glorious saint wishes us to fill are simply fear, which, when it is

too great, leads us into discouragement. The sight of great faults committed brings

with it a certain dread, an astonishment and a fear which depresses the heart.

These are the valleys which must be filled with confidence and hope for the coming

of our Lord.

“Humble the mountains and hills,” says the glorious St. John. What are these

mountains but presumption, pride and that self-esteem which is a great hindrance

to the coming of our Lord, who is accustomed to humiliate and reduce the proud;

for he penetrates the depth of the heart in order to discover the pride which is

hidden therein.

Level the roads, straighten those which are crooked so as to make them

even, which is as if he said: Correct so many dodging and crooked intentions, so as

to have only that of pleasing God in doing penance, which should be the end

towards which we ought to aim. As the sailor, when he guides his ship, always has

his eye on the compass to see if he is going straight to his goal, so we ought always

to have our eyes open to see what acts of penance we can undertake, so that we

may come to that heaven to which we aspire.

To smoot the paths is to calm moods by the mortification of the passions,

inclinations and aversions. How desirable it is, this equality of spirit and mood,

and how we ought to work faithfully to acquire it! For we are more variable and

inconstant than words can tell. We find people who are now in a good humor,

talking pleasantly and joyfully: but in a twinkling, you find them vexed and

unquiet. You will find others to whom it is necessary to speak now in this manner,

now in another; such men are at present mild-hearted, who a moment after, for

little reason, will be impatient. In short, what does one see among men except

continual oddities and inequalities of spirit which are the tortuous, rugged ways

which we must make straight before the coming of our Lord.

But in order to do it well, we must go to the school of the glorious St. John

the Baptist and beg him to receive us as his disciples, and if he does so he will put

us into the hands of our divine Savior, who in turn will put us into those of the

Eternal Father who will give us his grace in this world and his glory in the next,

where we shall praise him eternally.

Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent, Trans., Lectionary and Martyrology, ed. Encalcat Abbey, Dourgne-Tarn 1956, 27-28.3