2nd Sunday of Advent
06 December 2009
First reading Baruch 5:1-9 Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress,
put on the beauty of the glory of God for ever,
wrap the cloak of the integrity of God around you,
put the diadem of the glory of the Eternal on your head:
since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven,
since the name God gives you for ever will be,
‘Peace through integrity, and honour through devotedness.’
Arise, Jerusalem, stand on the heights
and turn your eyes to the east:
see your sons reassembled from west and east
at the command of the Holy One, jubilant that God has remembered them.
Though they left you on foot,
with enemies for an escort,
now God brings them back to you
like royal princes carried back in glory.
For God has decreed the flattening
of each high mountain, of the everlasting hills,
the filling of the valleys to make the ground level
so that Israel can walk in safety under the glory of God.
And the forests and every fragrant tree will provide shade
for Israel at the command of God;
for God will guide Israel in joy by the light of his glory
with his mercy and integrity for escort.
Psalm or canticle: Psalm 125:1-7
Second reading Philippians 1:4-6,8-11
Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present. I am quite certain that the One who began this good work in you will see that it is finished when the Day of Christ Jesus comes; and God knows how much I miss you all, loving you as Christ Jesus loves you. My prayer is that your love for each other may increase more and more and never stop improving your knowledge and deepening your perception so that you can always recognise what is best. This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us for the glory and praise of God.
Gospel Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrach of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley will be filled in,
every mountain and hill be laid low,
winding ways will be straightened
and rough roads made smooth.
And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.
Reflection
By Jeanne Therese Hilario Andres
On the second Sunday of Advent, the start of our new liturgical year, perhaps it’s good to stop and take a 3D perspective of God’s work in our lives. After all, God’s love and faithfulness to us through time and space is best seen in 3D.
Looking back, we see how “The Lord has done great things for us” and thus, “we are filled with joy.” Can you see God’s hand in everything that has taken place in your life till this very moment? In good times as well as in bad, He has been there for you, whether you have been aware of His presence or not. And now you are here, wiser, stronger, nearer to the person God wants you to be.
Now look forward: Since God has been so faithful to you in the past, will He not continue to be faithful till the end? Will not the One who began a good work in you continue to complete it? He has already set in motion for you a future full of hope. He will let you grow in love and knowledge of Him, reminding you of what truly matters.
Look around and see where God has placed you. He has put you where you will bloom and bear fruit, where you can touch others with His good news. See the people God has surrounded you with, how He gathers His children to love and serve Him as one body. And though the Enemy will lie to you and try to convince you that you are alone, that you are fighting a desperate battle by yourself, look around and see the truth: you are part of God’s family; you need never feel isolated, abandoned or alone.
And finally, look up and see God’s saving hand. He has fought and won the victory for us, before we even joined the fray. And as we look up, our faces turned towards the Lord, unmindful of the unrelenting chaos around us, so can we keep our eyes fixed on what is truly important. By simply remaining focused on the Lord in the midst of the turmoil of daily life, our eyes on Heaven as we do ordinary tasks, we begin to prepare the hearts of those around us to let Him enter in, to let Him love them with His saving love.
Prayer
Oh Lord, You have begun a good and marvelous work in me. I believe that You will bring it to completion, so that by Your work in my life I can prepare a path for You, straight into the hearts of those around me, that they too may come to know and receive Your salvation. Amen.
Rejoice in God
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