2^nd Sunday of Advent Year (C)

Baruch 5: 1-9; Psalm 125; Phil. 1: 4-6, 8-11; Lk. 3: 1-6

Read: In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Ceasar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zachariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isiah:

“A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hill will be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads made smooth. And all mankind shall see the salvation of God!”

Reflect: We are in Advent time. The Gospel is inviting us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Lord into our lives. He wants us to repent, to convert, or to agree to be changed. What are we doing in preparation for eternal life? Is honesty our way? Sweetness? Diligence? Are we doing our best to rid ourselves of our sins? Are we recovering from everything that is an obstacle to our meeting with Jesus?

The Gospel ends thus: “All mankind shall see the salvation of God!” This is the greatest offer that was made to us humans. The Church today, as messenger of this offer made to us more than two thousand years ago, is also making us the same offer. What am I and you doing to  prepare our life for the living Jesus, who was born for us, by repenting?

Pray: Great is the Lord in all he has done for you! Great is the Lord is all he had done for us! And we were filled with happiness.

Act: Pray to God so that he will fashion your life in such a way that will glorify Him: “And this is what I pray: that your love increases and multiplies always more by wisdom and with all discernment so that you will be able to choose the best, and then you will be clean and faultless in Christ’s day, full of the fruits of the justice coming through Jesus Christ, for the glory and the glorification of God”. (Philippians)