Second Sunday of Advent

 II SUNDAY ADVENT, 06 DECEMBER 2020

ISAIAH 40. 1-11; MARK 1.1-8

1.     “Comfort, comfort my people”, says the Lord. In other words, today God is telling you, his people the very same words through us, “Be comforted, be comforted, my people”. Why? Because he is coming. For what? He comes to save, to forgive, to comfort, to rejuvenate.

2.     But many times we do not experience these saving signs and effects of his coming, namely that comfort, that courage. Our lives continue often discomforted and weak and weakened. Why? Because we are not fittingly disposed to receive this grace and effect, we do not fulfill the requirements laid down by the Word of God.

3.     What are they? We shall pick up some of them: believe, fear not, be humble and prepare.

First, believe. Yes, believe in his saving power, that he will come with a strong hand, he will rule with his arm, that he will end our tribulation and affliction. Believe in his forgiving mercy that he will pardon our iniquities, believe in his caring love, that he will feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather his lambs with his arm, carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. Believe in his wisdom and power which are incomparable and unsurpassable. Believe also that he brings the reward with him.

4.     Second, fear not, have courage. The Lord repeatedly assures and encourages us: I am with you always. I am the Master of all the situations, and I have control over everything. All nations are nothing and vanity. He brings the princes to nothing and the judges of the earth to vanity.

5.     Third, be humble and realize our insufficiency and transience. All people is grass and all grass withers and the flower fades. This realization of our human inadequacy and perishability is very important because it will guard us against our arrogance and excess self-autonomy.

6.     Then fourth, prepare and act: prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness and make a highway in the desert. The world is like a wilderness with so much confusion, wild growth, and animals. So make a highway in the wilderness means to bring more clarity, order, and humanness. The world is like a desert, with much emptiness and aridity. So prepare the way in the desert is to bring more warmth, meaning, productivity and fecundity.

7.     The valleys shall be raised and exalted. This means to elevate the drooping spirits. The mountains shall be made low would mean to level our pride and false heights, to humble down the mountains of ego. To straighten the crooked paths is to make straight and right what is distorted, perverted, twisted and crooked. To even and smooth the rough places is to become a little more soft, tender and smooth.

This alone is the way to prepare the way of the Lord!