Second Sunday of Advent
Here we are at the second Sunday of Advent as time continues to pass by as we head towards Christmas at breakneck speed. I wonder how many people out there really understand the meaning of Advent and the reason for the season of Christmas. Advent is all about watching and waiting and Christmas is about the birth of the Christ Child and how we welcome him into our lives. This weekend we continue our wait as we light the second purple candle on the Advent Wreath. Our first reading from Isaiah announces the “breaking news” that the people’s exile was coming to an end. They had hoped for a new beginning and God was coming to fulfill their hopes. just when we are stuck in our own desert of discouragement, failed plans and “bad-news days,” God sees our predicament and helps us to understand what we have to do. The prophet in the reading cries out, “Get Ready and that is what we do in Advent!”
The reading from Isaiah has a message of consolation for us and a promise of a new start and here we are in 2023 preparing to celebrate the new start once again. In the gospel reading John the Baptist the voice in the wilderness takes centre stage as he calls us to prepare the way and make the paths straight for the lord. He also tells us that there is someone coming after him who is more powerful than he was and that he was not fit to undo the strap of his sandal. So are we making the paths straight for the lord as we try to make sense of all the ongoing razzmatazz or are we going with the flow, just too busy with all the secular preparations to really take notice of the importance of the preparation that John the Baptist talks about? John was called to bring renewal to the institutional expressions of religion which, at the time, had become fossilized into mere formulae or external ritual. As the journey of Advent continues John the Baptist’s call to conversion sounds out in our communities.
Like John the Church in every age including our own must become a reminder of the light of the truth Jesus proclaims and we have to allow that light to shine brightly in our lives and in the life of the Church. As we continue our preparations for Christmas let us not forget the true and lasting message of Christmas that god came among us a message that has lasted over the years right down through the generations to us here in 2023. For many people out there in the wilderness the voice of Jesus means very little as they go about their daily lives. This weekend through the Prophet Issiah and John the Baptist all of us are called to reawaken within ourselves the great spirit of expectant waiting as we wait on the Christmas feast. So are we making the paths straight for the lord or are we just going to go with the flow taking little or no notice of the importance of the preparation of our hearts and minds for the great spiritual feast that Christmas is. We need to refocus ourselves as we prepare the way for the Lord doing our best to make his paths straight. So now as we continue the preparation will it be the secular razzamatazz that will take over our Advent and Christmas celebrations or will it be Jesus the Child in the Manger who will take his place amongst us, our families and friends. So how are our preparations for the coming of Jesus at Christmas going this Advent?
Fullerton T 