Housekeeping

2nd Sunday of Advent
07 December 2008


Come, let us worship the Lord, the King who is to come.

First reading Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11
‘Console my people, console them’
says your God.
‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and call to her
that her time of service is ended,
that her sin is atoned for,
that she has received from the hand of the Lord
double punishment for all her crimes.’

A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness
a way for the Lord.
Make a straight highway for our God
across the desert.
Let every valley be filled in,
every mountain and hill be laid low.
Let every cliff become a plain,
and the ridges a valley;
then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all mankind shall see it;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

Go up on a high mountain,
joyful messenger to Zion.
Shout with a loud voice,
joyful messenger to Jerusalem.
Shout without fear,
say to the towns of Judah,
‘Here is your God.’

Here is the Lord coming with power,
his arm subduing all things to him.
The prize of his victory is with him,
his trophies all go before him.
He is like a shepherd feeding his flock,
gathering lambs in his arms,
holding them against his breast
and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

Psalm or canticle: Psalm 84:9-14

Second reading 2 Peter 3:8-14
There is one thing, my friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, ‘a day’ can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.

Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for is what he promised: the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace.

Gospel Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:
Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.

and so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, ‘Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’


Reflection
By Grace Madrinan

Whether we admit it or not, we usually get the chance to clean-up the whole house when we expect some visitors. We go about replacing the curtains, sweeping the floors and pulling out our best Chinaware. Funny, but true.

How much more, then, if we are to receive Jesus one day in our homes? This gives us more reason to do regular ‘housekeeping’, so that we will be found spotless when He arrives unannounced.

Though we don’t know when exactly He will come, we are fortunate that God sent us messengers, reminding us to do our ‘chores’. In this Sunday’s Gospel, John the Baptist tells us to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Until this very day, God still sends us His messengers through the Bible, our priests, lay preachers and even our family and friends.

This only tells me how God is patient with us, and that He does not want anyone to be left uninformed. He does not want anyone to perish and that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Let us therefore give our due diligence to be spotless before the Lord.







Father, thank You for bringing us John the Baptist and all your messengers who remind us of Your call to repent. May You find us spotless as we await Your coming. Amen.