Second Sunday of Advent
Lectionary: 5
Reading 1
Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
the rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8) Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us
your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord,
let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord,
let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord,
let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Reading 2
Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one day.
The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,
and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought you to be,
conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.
Alleluia
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
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey.
And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
The Second Week of Advent opens with a Reading from the Book of the Prophet of Isaiah which emphasizes what Jesus Christ brings to this world and to the lives of all peoples within. It also offers a promise of things to come which is also the subject of the Second Advent Candle that is lit on this Sunday of Advent: PEACE. The world as built by us is filled with dysfunction, evil, and sin. It is impossible to encounter a perfect world with perfect people because no one is perfect which means that anything that has as its origin with us will not be perfect. We all have an attraction to evil and to doing wrong things which brings about conflict in our lives and those around us. The good news is that God has a solution to this and a different way of living that we can partake in that will naturally force out all that is negative and bad. The Prophet Isaiah announces that it is through the revelation of Jesus Christ that the time of self-inflicted punishment and suffering can come to an end.
Throughout the entire Book of Isaiah there is a common theme of self-inflicted punishment, forgiveness, and love. There are warnings of what is to occur if a relationship with God is ignored and the possibility of redemption and healing when God is recognized. A comparison of a life with God and a life without God can be examined. The Book also focuses on the love that God has for us including Him wanting to forgive us for all of our wrongdoings and short-comings. What was revealed then to the Jewish people serves as guidance and promises for all of us today. The words set down back then have as much importance today. It is through an acknowledgment of God and the acceptance of the revelation of Jesus Christ that all of God’s creation will be healed and perfected. The process starts from all of us as individuals and spreads out into the world with us being the flashpoint which ignites the light which will dispel all of the darkness. Receiving what God has to offer and receiving Jesus Christ into our hearts makes us instruments of peace and unifies us with our creator in a relationship solidified by love.
The Apostle Peter tells us not to focus on the Coming of Jesus Christ but instead to focus on ourselves and our relationship with Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ comes again it will mark a New Heaven and a New Earth with the Old Heaven and the Old Earth passing away. This means that Jesus’ Second Coming in the physical sense will mark the completion of a transformative process that is occurring right now. We are a part of this process. Everything in this physical world is changing and moving towards this moment. Jesus Christ is within us guiding us towards this end goal. Spirituality we have the capability of uniting with Him and can recognize this process as it happens; enjoying each moment as the moment comes to pass. When we do this we can encounter a certain peace which is a byproduct of what is occurring. This peace becomes manifest as all of the bad is pushed out of us making space for the good. The Love of God then pours in. We are more than witnesses to this New Heaven and New Earth. We are responsible for its creation. When acting out our mission we will encounter peace and then, as a direct result, that same peace will flow forth into the world.
Behold, I am sending my messenger
ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”
Just as Isaiah proclaimed the coming of Saint John the Baptist and it was through John that Jesus’ Coming was revealed, we have been commissioned to proclaim that we are now in a time of preparation for His Second coming and it is everyone’s responsibility to participate in this constant state of readiness. This is for the benefit of everyone. We must keep attention to our self-improvement and the improvement of others. We need to build. When we prepare and build upon the changes in ourselves and those whom we interact with then we are moved mentally and spiritually towards a deeper relationship with God. Peace then becomes the new state of being we find ourselves in; free from the bonds of our past brokenness. Eventually we will be ready to encounter the New Heaven and the New Earth promised to all. We can then finally meet Jesus as He hands the Kingdom over to The Father.
This is out story. This is the full Creation Story that we are all participating in. To ignore it means we would be ignoring ourselves. Jesus Christ is the light which shows the way to inevitable peace. It is “Peace of God,” as the Apostle Paul says, “that is beyond all understanding.”
Deacon Tom
A QUICK NOTE:
Please pray for Sue and Jack.
Sue and Jack have been volunteering at MCI Concord, MCI Norfolk, and several other prisons for decades. At MCI concord that have run the Tuesday Rosary Group for a countless amount of years and have also participated in various advent and REC Retreats. Jack has been diagnosed with Stage Four Cancer and is at home in hospice. He is without pain and in good spirits. He is surrounded by family. He is preparing to go home to God. Both Sue and Jack send their prayers and their love.
Deacon Tom
My Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Advent pulls our hearts to the Lord! Advent is a time to begin anew. Advent is a time to be still and listen again to the Word of the Lord. All of this is to say that we must prepare the way of the Lord in our lives and in our hearts.
The first reading today is from the Prophet Isaiah. We have to understand this word as originally aimed at the Jewish people who had been taken out of their own land and were living in a foreign land without must capacity to celebrate their own faith. These people longed to return to their own land and to rebuild the temple of the Lord. As in any community, we can be sure that not everyone wanted to return because they knew that returning would be even worse hardship than staying where they were.
This is a parallel to our own lives today. We are in exile from the Lord because of our sins and the sins of our ancestors. Not everyone today wants to turn to the Lord because the Lord makes demands on our lives. The words of the Prophet Isaiah can be addressed to us if we long to live according to the Word of the Lord and recognize that we cannot do that without the grace and mercy of God in our lives.
If we have tried to be faithful and find ourselves failing over and over, then surely the words of Isaiah speak to us! Comfort, give comfort to my people! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
When we are using our energies to seek the Lord, these words of Isaiah can bring tears to our eyes and open our hearts so much more to the presence of the Living God, who is seeking us.
The Second Letter of Saint Peter, from which is taken the second reading today, repeats this lesson to us: “The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” It is God Himself who wants to give us comfort but can only do so insofar as our hearts are open and waiting for Him. It is God who invites us to be patient and who reminds us: “Beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.”
Advent is a time to stir up our desire for God, to stir up our hope in the Lord, to deepen our awareness of His love for us.
The Gospel of Mark today gives us the account of John the Baptist, a man seeking the Lord with all his strength. Mark recognizes that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy that speaks of the one who will go before the Lord to prepare His way. John himself speaks this way in the today’s passage. And John is so completely humbled by his task that he sees himself even unworthy to untie the thongs of the sandals of the Lord who comes.
Everything in and about John the Baptist points to the One Who Is To Come, the Savior, the Messiah.
May our lives become so focused on God and His ways in our lives that we become like John the Baptist: our lives only giving witness to the love and mercy of God and drawing others to that love and mercy.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
Background on the Gospel Reading
Today’s Gospel is taken from the beginning of Mark. Unlike Luke and Matthew, Mark does not include any details of Jesus’ birth. Instead Mark begins with the appearance of John the Baptist in the desert. On this the Second Sunday of Advent, we are invited to reflect upon the role of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Jesus and the salvation that he would bring to us.
Mark’s description of the appearance of John the Baptist highlights John’s continuity with the Jewish prophetic tradition. Mark combines quotations from the Old Testament books of Malachi, Isaiah, and Exodus. Mark’s description of John as an ascetic, living in the desert, clothed in camel hair, and eating locusts and wild honey, is reminiscent of the description of the prophet Elijah found in Second Kings. The people of Judea and Jerusalem flock to him, listening to his message of repentance and forgiveness; they also come to him to be baptized. Mark’s Gospel is clear, however, that John the Baptist’s role is only to prepare the way for another who will come, one who is greater than John.
Many scholars believe that the Gospels reflect the tension that likely existed between followers of John the Baptist and disciples of Jesus. Each of the four Evangelists report on John’s preaching and baptizing, and they each emphasize the importance of Jesus’ baptism by John. The four Gospels also explain that John was sent to preach in preparation for another. In the Gospel of Luke, the question is raised as to whether John the Baptist was himself the Messiah. Just as in today’s Gospel, however, John speaks quite explicitly that the Messiah was to come after him.
In today’s Gospel we hear John the Baptist contrast his baptism of repentance with the baptism that Jesus will inaugurate. John says that he has baptized with water, but that the one who is to come will baptize with the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism was not yet a Christian baptism, but a preparation for the Sacrament of Baptism through which sins are forgiven and the gift of the Holy Spirit is received.
John the Baptist is presented to us as a model during Advent. We, too, are called upon to prepare a way for the Lord. Like John the Baptist, we are messengers in service to one who is greater than we are. Our Baptism commissions us to call others to life as disciples of Jesus.
Loyola Press
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