2nd Sunday of Advent
December 6, 2015
| First reading Baruch 5:1-9 |
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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.
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 Psalm 125:1-6 |
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| 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.
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| Gospel | Luke 3:1-6 |
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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.
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 Pam Manzano
The world today as we know it is extremely far from where it was, say, ten or 20 years ago. Man’s pursuit for excellence, thirst for knowledge and willingness to survive has put him into a pedestal where he himself claims that everything which is of ‘today’ is better than that of yesterday – but is it?
In a world run by technology and marked with non-stop advancements, our lives seem to be always on the edge. People are in constant move and one is expected to catch up with the speed as fast as light. One wrong move and you will be left behind. Nothing ever stays the same, no, not even change. Stars and planets light years away are now being explored. Illnesses we thought never could be cured are now curable with the field of medicine being advanced more than ever. Everything seemed to be automated – from voice-activated GPS to the personal assistant in your smart phone.
But what happened to us men?
We are left trying to cope with our own ingenuities. We strive to be at the top, to be the one in control – because that is what life taught us, you might say. We are almost always occupied with all things imaginable and what not. We are always in a hurry; always in a rush to get things done. We try to create short cuts only to find ourselves trapped in the end. We tend to be so eager and impatient for seemingly never ending tomorrows to come.
As if being in constant move is not enough, we plastered our smart phones to our hands. Social media sites became the embodiment of ‘friendship’. Today’s generation pioneered in giving ‘likes’ to the homeless yet leave them where they are. We are now predisposed to post status and shout outs whenever we feel like our rights have been violated, always in need to share our opinions and then hide in the guise of it being ‘just’ an opinion and nothing more. We started relying on everything that is of technology. We started to consciously forget how a genuine hug feels and turned to virtual emojis instead. We wholeheartedly chose to leave the art of letter writing behind and embrace electronic mails. We started loving “mundanity” with everything outside our routine being counted as threatening to our sanity.
We live in an era where schools are built and minds left empty; where food presentation is perfected yet ignore those who are dying of hunger; where the need to be heard is more important than to hear. We live today where lives and beliefs are protected by bringing others down; where honesty is being downplayed. We live now yearning for transformation when we, ourselves, are not willing to be changed. To live in the 21st century is to partake in both its glory and shame.
Saint John the Baptist announced in the Gospel the coming of Christ and asked everyone to make His paths straight. It would not hurt if we heed his call and examine how our lives have been. Are we ready to receive Christ this Advent season or are we going to let our complexities get in the way of us returning to the heart of worship?
In a world run by technology and marked with non-stop advancements, our lives seem to be always on the edge. People are in constant move and one is expected to catch up with the speed as fast as light. One wrong move and you will be left behind. Nothing ever stays the same, no, not even change. Stars and planets light years away are now being explored. Illnesses we thought never could be cured are now curable with the field of medicine being advanced more than ever. Everything seemed to be automated – from voice-activated GPS to the personal assistant in your smart phone.
But what happened to us men?
We are left trying to cope with our own ingenuities. We strive to be at the top, to be the one in control – because that is what life taught us, you might say. We are almost always occupied with all things imaginable and what not. We are always in a hurry; always in a rush to get things done. We try to create short cuts only to find ourselves trapped in the end. We tend to be so eager and impatient for seemingly never ending tomorrows to come.
As if being in constant move is not enough, we plastered our smart phones to our hands. Social media sites became the embodiment of ‘friendship’. Today’s generation pioneered in giving ‘likes’ to the homeless yet leave them where they are. We are now predisposed to post status and shout outs whenever we feel like our rights have been violated, always in need to share our opinions and then hide in the guise of it being ‘just’ an opinion and nothing more. We started relying on everything that is of technology. We started to consciously forget how a genuine hug feels and turned to virtual emojis instead. We wholeheartedly chose to leave the art of letter writing behind and embrace electronic mails. We started loving “mundanity” with everything outside our routine being counted as threatening to our sanity.
We live in an era where schools are built and minds left empty; where food presentation is perfected yet ignore those who are dying of hunger; where the need to be heard is more important than to hear. We live today where lives and beliefs are protected by bringing others down; where honesty is being downplayed. We live now yearning for transformation when we, ourselves, are not willing to be changed. To live in the 21st century is to partake in both its glory and shame.
Saint John the Baptist announced in the Gospel the coming of Christ and asked everyone to make His paths straight. It would not hurt if we heed his call and examine how our lives have been. Are we ready to receive Christ this Advent season or are we going to let our complexities get in the way of us returning to the heart of worship?
Prayer
Father, we pray that we may be able to return to You this season of Advent. May we heed St. John’s call to prepare the way for the coming of Your Son. Teach us the path to living simpler lives with the goal of pleasing You alone. May You constantly remind us that we are only temporary dwellers of this world and that we are destined to be with You at Your kingdom forever. Amen.
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