The Second Sunday of Advent

The Second Sunday of Advent

Reading 1 Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Go up on to a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

“Prepare a place for the Lord.” We each have a desert place. A place that is longing for a fulfillment only God can provide. We must carry the lesson of the waiting room into our daily lives in some way. We must create a spiritual waiting room where we can spend time preparing. Prayer is preparation. What are one or two things that you can commit to doing for the rest of Advent that will mark your preparation?

Psalm 85: Lord Let us see your kindness and grant us your salvation.

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land. R.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven. R.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps. R.

Each of the highlighted words above is a promise: peace, salvation, glory, kindness, truth, and justice. Which do you long for? Spend time with these promises and ask the Lord to show you what these mean to Him compared to what they might mean to you.

Reading 2 2 Peter 3:8-14

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out. Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

My mom calls this process of waiting and accepting God’s time as patient endurance. We can only be patient from a heart of trust. While we wait St. Paul encourages us to use our time well, to grow in holiness.

“Blessed are those who wait for the Lord.” Jesus set the tone with the very first reading of this Advent: “Be Alert! Be Watchful!” In other words, wait. Wait is another four-letter word in today’s world. Take a look around a waiting room and what do you see? A lot of people trying to do anything but wait. We are on our phones playing games, checking emails, scrolling through Instagram. We think we have turned waiting into a productive art with the advent of technology when in fact we have lost the art of waiting. The next time you are waiting I invite you to enter the watchful waiting of the Lord: prayer. Waiting isn’t supposed to be empty; it isn’t biding time; it is in fact preparation. Fill yourself with spiritual food during your waiting. There are even phone apps that you can use to help nourish your spirit in this time of expectant hope. (From my Advent book entry for Saturday)

Gospel Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The words, [back to the future] pop into my mind. This reading takes us back to remind us that we are indeed living the promised future. We baptized in Christ have received the Holy Spirit. Spend time this week with Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit.

*Mt 10:20*       *Lk 11:13*       *Lk 24:49*       *Jn 6:63*

*Jn 3:6-8*        Jn 14:16*          *Jn 14:26*        *Acts 1:8*