Second Sunday of Advent Year A

Collect

Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom gain us admittance to his company. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reflection

The Liturgy of the Word on this Second Sunday of Advent presents us with John the Baptist, with the purpose of focusing on his ministry of calling the people of Israel to repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Even in the First Reading, although the proclamation differs somewhat, Isaiah, like John the Baptist, heralds the coming of the Messiah, who will bring about order.

The First Reading presents us with the One sent by God, filled and transformed by God’s Spirit, so that His judgement is not influenced by aversions and sympathies, as we are, but by truth. His word strikes certain individuals with the hope that it will lead them onto the righteous path (as John the Baptist did in the Gospel when he rebuked the Pharisees who went to be baptised by him), while at the same time his word lifted up the poor and restored their dignity.

In the Gospel, John calls for repentance in preparation for Baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire, the same grace with which the One sent by God, foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, was to be filled—as you may have noticed, what we refer to as the gifts of the Holy Spirit were mentioned—those gifts that we receive in the Sacrament of Confirmation, which renews within us the grace of Baptism, but this time they enable us to become witnesses of Him who has sent us. Isaiah goes a step further by describing, through extraordinary imagery, how the new kingdom of the One sent by God would be: where the wolf will live alongside the lamb, and the leopard lying down with the kid.

I remember, there was a member of the Society of Christian Doctrine (MUSEUM), who to tease another member, who was slightly more scrupulous, told him that Isaiah must have been drunk when he wrote those words. It was a joke, but perhaps it was an ironic one, because we often become intoxicated by passing the time with countless distractions trying to forget our problems at work, in our families, and of life in general. We distract ourselves to the point of closing ourselves off, trying not to be affected by anything, in the same way that a person gets drunk to escape reality until one enters another reality. Whoever has experienced being drunk, can probably better understand what I mean!

But today, God’s Word demonstrates to us that the solution is not drunkenness or other means such as morphine to deaden our pain instead of facing our sufferings and allowing them to be touched by God’s grace, nor should we allow those things to numb us and make us forget what we need to remember more clearly, because in those areas we need repentance and God’s forgiveness. The solution is to allow the dry stump of our soul to revive, so that a shoot may spring forth, as Isaiah describes, and as John warns that where this does not take place the tree will be cut down: the One sent by God, the Messiah, will come seeking fruit from this shoot to gather and thresh, and fill His barns with wheat. He builds His Kingdom also by the small efforts we offer every day, increasing our offering daily, if possible, but if not, it is no issue, just try again.

Isaiah’s vision of the world may sound unrealistic for us to truly imagine, and John’s vision is so severe that we could easily disregard it because it sounds politically incorrect. So, what are we to do? Where should we go? Where are we going to find shelter and strength?

In the Second Reading, Paul writes to the Romans: “by perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we may continue to have hope.” These words must remind us of the seriousness of what we are discussing in the sphere of the Christian life, and it is already clear that in our times we will need to stand firm for what we believe in. But these are also words of comfort, that sustain us in patience because we must wait and strive until true justice is fulfilled, while holding on to the hope that the joy promised will one day be accomplished, even if we must for now exercise restraint, or find ourselves in hostile confrontations.

Prayer

Lord, inscribe in my heart the word ‘Hope’, so that, like You, I may dream and believe that the impossible can become reality if, according to our abilities we strive to build a better world, in which there are no more casualties or assassins, without criminals or victims, where there is no more fear—of the wicked nor the fear of Your mighty arm. Let our hope be the same shoot through which You open the way to a new and renewed life that leads to Your Kingdom. Amen.