Second Sunday of Advent

Second Sunday of Advent

Reading I
Is 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.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 85:9-10, 11-12, 13-14

R. (8) 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. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
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. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
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. Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.

Reading II
2 Pt 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.

Gospel
Mk 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."

COMMENTARY
The Book of the Prophet Isaiah is actually divided by biblical scholars into three distinct books, namely Isaiah, Deutero Isaiah, and Trito Isaiah. It is accepted by today's scholars that Deutero and Trito Isaiah were in actuality written by a different author than that of Isaiah, and probably about 150 years after the death of the prophet and during Israel's exile in Babylon. These books probably belong to an Isaian school of religious thought and carry forward several key phrases or motifs from the actual prophet. However, these two books of Isaiah are also dependant on traditions from the northern kingdom of Israel.

In today's reading, God speaks in a tone of mercy "Comfort", and expresses the covenant bonding of Israel and Yahweh. By speaking to the heart, which the Hebrews considered the organ of reasoning, God is attempting to convince Israel of his concern. Jerusalem here is not a place but the chosen people in exile, and to have "received double for all her sins" implies a completion of the purifying process of sorrow. "A voice! It is crying out": someone speaks up from the celestial assembly that the Lord himself is about to lead a new exodus through the desert. A new theme of the "way" is introduced by the author of Isaiah - a manner of life for Israel and for God. John the Baptist is to announce "the way of the Lord" and Jesus declares that he himself is that way. Christianity, therefore, is called simply "the way" (Acts 9:2; 19:9,23)

The Second Epistle of Peter assures us that God delays to judge. Divine time is mysterious to humans and therefore incalculable. We should understand this text in apropos of the delayed judgment of Adam. Although in Gen 2:17 God said, "On the day you eat it you will die", Adam still lived another 1,000 years. This delay of judgment was explained as God's gift of time to Adam to repent and be saved. God, who is both creator and executive of the world, is both merciful and just, with a special emphasis on God's forbearance to sinners.

Today's Gospel is the prologue to Mark and relates the promise of Old Testament prophets to John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way, and to Jesus the Lord as the "coming one". It introduces Jesus as God's Son and Servant. Mark may have used a collection of OT quotations and attributed them to Isaiah. "prepare the way" which describes Israel's way back from exile in Babylon, became for the Jewish people a classic expression of God's comfort and salvation. Mark attributes the prophet's message directly to Jesus. In the Christian context, John the Baptist was the voice in the wilderness and Jesus was the Lord whose ways John prepared and made straight.

Participating in John's ritual baptism expressed the person's willingness to change and God's willingness to forgive sins before the coming of God's kingdom. Jewish historian Josephus describes John as a preacher of repentance who used baptism and attracted large crowds. Mark patterns John the Baptist as a prophetic figure in the pattern of Elijah. With respect to Jesus, John confesses his unworthiness even to perform the service customarily performed by a slave of loosening the strap of the sandals. That Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit is a sign of the coming of God's escatological kingdom.

REFLECTION
We began this Advent with Christ's call for us to be vigilant, now the Church gives us the figure of John the Baptist as a model of this vigilance. From the moment of his conception, John's purpose was to proclaim the coming kingdom of God. While still in his mother's womb, John leaped for joy at the presence of the child Jesus still in Mary's womb. John would spend his entire life in expectation of the good news Jesus would bring, and preparing others for this great moment by constantly proclaiming the coming kingdom. He was in actuality a great prophet.

By virtue of our baptism, we all share in the life of Jesus Christ as priest, prophet, and king. And, it is precisely because of our anointing as prophet that we are all called to proclaim God's kingdom with the same fervor as John did. Moreover, John's words and deeds were never meant to glorify anyone except Jesus, and he recognized his unworthiness: "I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals." John is merely a voice that proclaims, and a man that understands that all greatness belongs to the Lord. During this Advent, we need to listen to the words of John and prepare the way for the Lord, following his example of humbleness so that as we decrease in vainglory, Jesus may be glorified in us.

Biblical Sources:

New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Seitz, C. (ed.) "Reading and Preaching the Book of Isaiah"; John J. Collins, The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. Commentary "New Jerome Biblical Commentary"; Jerome H. Neyrey, S.J. "New Jerome Biblical Commentary"; Stock, A., "Call to Discipleship: A Literary Study of Mark's Gospel"; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., "Introduction to the New Testament"; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) "The New Jerome Biblical Commentary.

Reflection: Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa