Deacon Tom Anthony

Second Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 4

Reading 1 Is 11:1-10

On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him:
a spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
a spirit of counsel and of strength,
a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD,
and his delight shall be the fear of the LORD.
Not by appearance shall he judge,
nor by hearsay shall he decide,
but he shall judge the poor with justice,
and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
Justice shall be the band around his waist,
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest;
the lion shall eat hay like the ox.
The baby shall play by the cobra’s den,
and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.
There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,
as water covers the sea.
On that day, the root of Jesse,
set up as a signal for the nations,
the Gentiles shall seek out,
for his dwelling shall be glorious.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17

R. (cf. 7) Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
he shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace for ever.

Reading 2 Rom 15:4-9

Brothers and sisters:
Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction,
that by endurance and by the encouragement of the Scriptures
we might have hope.
May the God of endurance and encouragement
grant you to think in harmony with one another,
in keeping with Christ Jesus,
that with one accord you may with one voice
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you,
for the glory of God.
For I say that Christ became a minister of the circumcised
to show God’s truthfulness,
to confirm the promises to the patriarchs,
but so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
As it is written:
Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles
and sing praises to your name.

Alleluia Lk 3:4, 6

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mt 3:1-12

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair
and had a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea,
and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I tell you,
God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.
I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand.
He will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

 Peace s a wonderful vision and concept to have. Peace within ourselves and peace in our lives can produce much fruit by its very presence. Even just thinking about it reduces anxiety, relieves tension, and brings us to a better place. It is very surprising that, even though it can be argued that peace is a superior state of being, what we are witnessing in society today is a rejection of that same concept in favor of chaos and the promotion of violence. This can be seen in the way we approach foreign relations as well as in the way we express ourselves individually from the entertainment we choose to the way we express our views. It has become common for people to use violence to protest against violence brought upon other people. Knowing in some subconscious way that they are wrong, those who promote this type of behavior then claim that all they want is peace. In reality, those who participate in this behavior choose to remove The Word of God from their thoughts and actions, bringing about this sad state of affairs while distorting His creation for their own selfish ambitions.

The presence of Jesus Christ immediately brings forth a message of peace. This message can be acted upon when we accept Him into our hearts and recognize His presence. It is from here that we can be participators in the building up of His kingdom here on this earth. We are conflicted because of our sinful nature, making us fall short from any type of perfection, but it is through this struggle between peace and disruption that will ultimately bring us closer to Him. It is ironic that just by taking the first step of recognizing Jesus Christ as our savior that we start to heal from all those self-inflicted wounds we suffer by ignoring Him and instead exercising the obtaining of our own selfish wants and desires.

Paul in his Letter to the Romans encouraged peace within the Christian community. He told them to,

“Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you,
for the glory of God.”

How does Christ welcome us? It is without judgment. It is without anger. It is without preconditions. It is with pure love and peace. Love and peace go together. They cannot be separated. Acting upon Christ’s love will bring about a peace that is beyond all understanding. With it, the conditions in our lives and the world around us will change. This is all in conjunction with Jesus’ Divine Plan. He will indeed come again when all His enemies are subject to Him and are beneath His feet. He will then hand the Kingdom over to His Father. Our Father.

As Christian, we are reminded of this during this Advent Season and are also asked a question especially in this Week of Peace: Are we the wheat or are we the garbage that remains on the threshing floor?

Jesus longs for us to be the wheat. Jesus reminds us that is what He intended us to be. It is only us, through him, that we can live up to that expectation and receive everything that He is offering.

Deacon Tom

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