SECOND SUNDAY OF THE ADVENT 22

2nd SUNDAY ADVENT: ISAIAH 11. 1-10; ROMANS 15. 4-9; MATTHEW 3. 1-12 Thrust: Repent and relent! Indicative: The Lord is coming. So how to meet him? How to stand worthy in his presence? How to ensure a happy encounter? How to obtain the blissful effects of this interaction? 1. Once again our focus is drawn to our destiny. This Destiny is the “kingdom of God”. In the words of the prophet Isaiah in the first reading, this kingdom of God is equivalent to the Messianic times. The kingdom of God is there where and when the Messiah comes and reigns. 2. It is the time of the Spirit. Many aspects of this Spirit are enumerated. It is the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. It will be also a time of peace and harmony where the wolf and the lamb, calf and the lion shall dwell together. There shall be no spirit of hurt or destruction. 3. The whole purpose of our life is in reference to this destiny. The whole life must be oriented to reach that destiny. Advent is the holy season that deeply reminds us that this kingdom of God is at hand. The times are coming. The king is arriving. His coming is imminent. This calls for urgency to be prepared for that coming. There is no time to waste or procrastinate. We cannot afford to be indifferent or negligent. 4. Life fulfills its purpose to the extent our preparation makes us fit and worthy. Thereby, we not only stand near the kingdom but also enter into it and experience the benefits of its reign. Now, what kind of preparation is this? What are some of the ingredients of this preparation that suits us to the kingdom? 5. First of all, it is not any other preparation. It is “preparing the way of the Lord.” We are called to prepare the Lord’s way and not any other way. And here we can wonder that many prepare so many other ways except the way of the Lord. So a first simple question to ask oneself is: Is my way of thinking, looking, judging, speaking, doing, and behaving preparing the way of the Lord? 6. Therefore, this preparation implies making “his paths straight.” Many things in our life are not straight. Many things are bent and twisted. Many things are crooked and insincere. There is so much compromise and double-dealing. Many things are unstable and inconsistent. We need to straighten them. We need to put the wrong things in their place. 7. This preparation summons us not to be “presumptuous.” This presumption is especially about our religious allegiance as the guarantee for our salvation. Just because we belong to a hallowed tradition, we cannot presume to merit God’s grace. That is why John the Baptist in his preaching cautions, “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’, for I tell you, God is able to raise up children for Abraham even from these stones”. 8. Preparation implies that we must be aware of the imminence of God’s judgment. “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 9. We must also know and be cautious that His judgment is impartial and just. There is no possibility to manipulate as we may do on earth. For “He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear; with righteousness, he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; but with the breath of his mouth, he shall kill the wicked”. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire”. 10. But all this preparation requires Repentance. Repentance is the starting point and the driving force. The various components of the preparation are the process. The end and the goal is bearing fruits. These fruits are good actions that are in tune with the ways of the Messiah and the features of the messianic times. 11. Accordingly, with repentance, we set ourselves in the process of preparation. We strive to put on the mind of the Messiah, that is his Spirit. Thus, we shall continue to grow in the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of wisdom and fear of the Lord. Like the Messiah, “Righteousness shall be the belt of our waist, and faithfulness the belt of our loins”. Imperative: The holy Advent invites us to become the “voices crying in the wilderness”, like John the Baptist. In a wilderness-like world, we need to become witnesses that live and proclaim repentance that leads to a prepared life and bearing fruits of the messianic reign (REFLECTION 2) Focus: The greatness of a person is not in the greatness of the status or position but in the greatness of the depth of his humility and the radicality of his commitment 1. Today, in the light of the figure of John the Baptist, we are called once again to get rid of all our shallow criteria of greatness. As the gospel pivots around his image, he stands before us as a model and challenge. Let us highlight some of his traits. 2. Austerity and authenticity, humility and nobility, clarity and conviction, loyalty and stability, passion and dedication – it is these that characterise his person, life, and mission. His austere life in a spirit of asceticism, detachment, and simplicity poses question marks to the present lifestyle that is steeped in excess comfort, extravagance, enslaving attachment, and vain externalities. His authenticity and integrity of life is a disturbing caution against the modern culture of hypocrisy, dishonesty, and masking. 3. Humility of heart and nobility of character mark John the Baptist. He does not seek cheap popularity and self-glory. Even while riding on fame, he directs the whole attention and ascribes the whole greatness to Jesus. He minimises himself in reference to Jesus. All this is a clear contradiction to the present mad race for self-glory and shallow prestige. His statement “I am not worthy to untie even the straps of his sandals; he must increase and I must decrease” must be an axe that hits hard against our false humility and self-seeking, even marring the image of Jesus himself, placing oneself at the centre and pushing Jesus into the corners. 4. He was profoundly clear and convinced of the indispensable and irreplaceable identity and role of the Lord, and his own role and function as a precursor that prepares the way for the Lord. He was clear and convinced of his preaching and baptism of water, calling for repentance and conversion, and the mission of Jesus in the baptism by the Holy Spirit, lived in a life of faith and transformation. It is this clarity and conviction that makes him quite frank and candid, courageous and risking, without mincing words and without diluting the force of God’s call by compromising on the demands of the gospel. 5. What a sharp contrast to the numerous tendencies to be “smart and worldly wise” not to condemn the compromises and false values, but to play down the power of the gospel, and to tone down the exigency of the right values! Fears to lose popularity, lose support, lose favours, lose access to money, power and position disgracefully make many to be indifferent and noncommittal. 6. The loyalty and steadfastness of John the Baptist even in the face of risk, opposition, persecution, and eventual death, can be a death blow to the frequent defections from loyalty, falling to a life of wavering faith and shallow deviations. The passion of the Baptist for the Lord to love him deeply and to be totally surrendered to him, laughs in the face of our superficial relationship with the lord without depth and content, without “feeling and sentiment”, without “belonging and bonding”. His unswerving dedication to the mission of the Lord is a serious counter-pointer and accuser-advocate against commitment which is tepid, mediocre, and lacking teeth and vigour. Direction: Blessed are they who strive to become John the Baptist, and not Jesus himself! Blessed are they who clear and prepare the way of the Lord, and not who blur and block the way!