Friends, in today’s Gospel, Luke quotes from the prophet Isaiah:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make straight his paths.” (Isa. 40:3)

Advent is a great liturgical season of waiting—but not a passive waiting. We yearn, we search, and we reach out for the God who will come to us in human flesh. In short, we prepare the way of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This preparation has a penitential dimension, because it is the season in which we prepare for the coming of a Savior, and we don’t need a Savior unless we’re deeply convinced there is something to be saved from. When we have become deeply aware of our sin, we know that we can cling to nothing in ourselves, that everything we offer is, to some degree, tainted and impure. We can’t show our cultural, professional, and personal accomplishments to God as though they are enough to save us. But the moment we realize that fact, we move into the Advent spirit, desperately craving a Savior. 

In the book of Isaiah (Isa. 64:7), we read:
“Yet, O Lord, you are our father;
    we are the clay and you the potter:
    we are all the work of your hands.” 

Today, let us prepare ourselves for the potter to come.