Second Sunday of Advent
Also Read: Mass Readings for 8 December 2024
Gospel: Luke 3: 1-6
John the Baptist is giving us a final call to prepare the road for the Messiah. He is repeating the call made by the prophet Isaiah, asking centuries back to prepare the way for the Lord. When the guest is unprecedented, the preparations need to be unprecedented. The existing roads are insufficient to welcome Messiah. We need to be prepared both as a people as well as individuals.
The call to mend our ways is both personal and communitarian. Last week, the gospel asked us to start with our end in mind: welcoming Jesus, our Lord, at his glorious second coming. When the guest is unprecedented, so shall be the preparations. We cannot welcome the royal guest through our uneven and crooked roads. The forerunner, John the Baptist, is giving us an urgent call to make our roads good. The call is to straighten the roads, to fill the valleys, and to level the mountains.
There are things that need to be straightened. It is a call to be truthful and sincere in all our dealings. It calls us to be just. We have to look into our spiritual and moral commitments. It is about being totally faithful to God and to one another.
We have to fill all the valleys in our lives. We have to work like the servant who doubled the five talents he received. We have to be like the five smart bridal maids ready with oil enough to last until the end. We have to fill the valleys created by our sins with repentance and reconciliation with God.
Christmas is a clarion call to level the mounts of arrogance and pride. Let the bulldozers of humility and truth level them. Pride is a great obstacle for Jesus to come to our lives.
Although we made our start at the time of baptism, over a period of time we might have drifted away from the royal path, and made some short-cuts here and there. It is a call to return to the royal path to salvation.
Through the centuries, Christmas has transformed to a cultural celebration than a spiritual event. Christmas is, above all, about Jesus Christ. We need to remind it ourselves over and over. Christmas is about Jesus. Advent is about preparing ourselves for the arrival of Jesus. The decorations, the lights, the sweets, and the gifts are meaningful as far as they inspire us to straighten our ways, to fill the valleys and to level the mountains to welcome Jesus.
Let us make it our daily habit to welcome Jesus. Welcome Jesus daily by actively reading the Bible. Welcome Jesus by being in communion with Him through prayers and sacraments. Welcome Jesus continuously by being faithful to Him and to one another. Above all welcome with great love and joy in our hearts.
One final reminder, Christmas is all about Jesus.
Amen.
