Homily Second Sunday of Advent Year C With hope and joy prepare the way
Homily
Second Sunday of Advent Year C
Reading
1: The Old Testament prophets prepared the people several centuries before for
the expected coming of the promised Messiah. We have just read from the prophet
Baruch. He is sharing in the exile of the people of Israel from their homeland
in Judea. In exile the people mourned that their sacred city Jerusalem was overtaken,
sacked and destroyed along with their Temple.
Baruch,
anticipating what God was about to do to fulfill his prophetic word, tells the
people to stop mourning over the past and start rejoicing for the marvelous
thing God was about to do. God will return the exiles back to Jerusalem. They left
in disgrace and shame; now He will return them in glory and splendor.
God
will make a way and go before his people. In this he picks up a theme from the
prophet Isaiah that we heard in the Gospel. “For God has commanded….so that
Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.”
There
is much gloom and doom in our present world: fear and anxiety, increase number
of suicides and overdoses; the political stalemate in Washington; the roller coaster
uncertainty of the stock market. The word of God is clear: “God is leading his
people in joy by the light of his glory with his mercy and justice for company.”
What
must we do? We are called to look to the Lord for our salvation and help.
During this Advent season we remember the marvelous gift that God gave us in
the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. And we look to his second coming
in glory. Both should give us hope and joy.
Reading
2: Paul reminds the people in Philippi that “the one who began a good work in
them will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus’ second coming
in glory. What is that good work? Our salvation, which has come through faith
in God who freed us from sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Last Sunday the prayer of Paul was that the
people would abound in love for one another and continue to please God. Today,
he returns to the theme of love, “that your love may increase even more and
more in knowledge to discern what is of value and to grow in holiness.” By this
way of life we give glory to God as others see our love and way of life. What
greater gift in response to the coming of Jesus than that of sincere love.
Gospel:
Last Sunday, the liturgy invited us to see Advent as a time of preparation for
the Savior’s birth, the dawn of salvation. Today, John gives us the reason for
our hope and joy. He proclaims to us again in our own day, recalling the words
of Isaiah the prophet: Prepare the way of the Lord. Repent so that you may see
the salvation of God. He was speaking to the people of his day for the Messiah
had come and the people were being prepared to receive and accept him. How?
John’s call was for repentance and renewal, symbolized by being baptized in the
water of the Jordan. Repentance for sin was the first step to opening one’s
heart to the Savior. Was this not the initial message of Jesus’ preaching:
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand?
John
is speaking to us today. We have been regenerated by the water of baptism and
yet we need to prepare ourselves for the present coming of Jesus as well as his
future coming. The people of John’s day struggled to recognize and accept Jesus
as Lord and Savior. We too can miss his presence in the present moment and get
caught up with the busyness of daily life that we fail to see, welcome and
accept him as our Lord and Savior.
Christmas
is not just celebrating a past event but making that moment a present reality here
and now in our lives. We are called to be attentive to the present coming of
Jesus. As we embrace him now, then we hopefully will be prepared to embrace him
in his second coming.
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