08 December 2024 – 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year C)

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

As we began Advent last week, we lit the candle of HOPE. And I want to ask you whether do you remember what was being shared last week? Some of you were not here so you may not know. But those who were here. Can you remember what were the three things that was proposed to you last week?

The first was to see God’s accompaniment in your life through Prayer, through the Love and also through Soaking yourself in God’s word.

And as we prepare our hearts for the 2nd Sunday of Advent, we lit the second candle of PEACE, to remind us that we are peacemakers, that we are called to be peacemakers in the world. And we are agents of peacemaking.

And as we look at the Gospel of today, we see so many names thrown at us. And those names that are thrown at us are names of people with authority, political, religious and also people in the temple. But when we look at these names, we must remind ourselves that these are where we find ourselves in sometimes.

We find ourselves being oppressed, we find ourselves in corners of our lives that we do not know what to do but we live through those situations, we live through those circumstances not knowing where they are leading us. But deep down in our hearts we know something needs to happen. Deep down in our hearts we know that the Lord is speaking to us to do something different.

And Luke, in his gospel, says this:
The word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he quotes prophet Isaiah in saying: A voice cries in the wilderness, preparing a way for the Lord, make His path straight, every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hills will be laid low, winding ways will be straightened and rough roads will be made smooth. And all mankind shall see the salvation of God.

And if you take the context of the Gospel today, dear friends, and relate it to our own lives, every word makes an impact in how we should view the world and what we should do as people of faith. Because our hearts cries out in the wilderness, trying to find purpose, trying to find meaning, trying to make sense of all that is happening.

And Advent is an opportune time that God gives us, to make us realise of the cry of our hearts for our own selves, for the community, for our families and also in the world. That we are agents of change, that we are agents of peace in everything and every circumstances that we are in.

The question is:
Do we make use of this time to listen to that voice in our hearts, crying out in the wilderness of our hearts, to acknowledge where the Lord is leading us?

But when we are in situation and circumstances as such, of sorrow and distress, the First Reading today tells us:
Jerusalem, take off your dress of sorrow and distress, put on the beauty and the glory of God forever.

There comes a message of HOPE, a message of new beginning, a message of a better future that is being spoken by the Prophet Baruch to make us realise that our circumstances now, this present moment, now, is not an end. That we have a future that is bright. And are we willing to listen to that kind of promptings in our hearts and to take the necessary step forward?

And Advent, dear friends, is an opportune time for us to listen, listen with all our hearts to God’s calling and God’s invitation. Because as the Second Reading says:
Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped us to spread the Gospel.

And when we remember our own past, when we remember our own difficulties and challenges of our lives and the journey that we have taken through as people, we come to this realisation, by our remembering, that God is indeed at work. As the Responsorial Psalm says today:
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

And these are opportunities, dear friends, even though when situations are bleak, situations of sorrow, situations of grieve, the Lord accompanies us and we must be able to recognise that voice in our hearts, focusing our hearts to where God wants us, focusing on where the Lord is leading us out of that desperate situation or the darkness situation into the light of His grace.

And as we look at the mountains, at the hills that perhaps were motivated by our ego, by our pride, by our own self-sufficient attitudes, we come to realise that all these mountains that we build for ourselves may not be leading us forward. Because rather than being inclusive, rather than welcoming people into our lives, we put walls, we put mountains, we put hills to separate us from them.

And sometimes, we can also go into a period of despair, of loneliness, of isolation, into that valleys that makes us distant away from God. And when we are in a situation as such, Prophet Isaiah again says:
Every valley will be filled in, every mountain and hills will be laid low, winding ways of our lives will be straightened and rough roads made smooth.

This is a voice of God speaking to us, dear friends. A voice of Hope, giving us the hope of Jesus in our very existence.

And as we prepare our hearts, prepare our hearts by allowing those words of scripture to soak in us and to recognise that we are peacemakers in this journey that we take together with God. And I would like to propose how we can walk this path of peace and this path of Hope.

The first thing that we need to remember is to embrace our giftedness. To embrace that each one of us have been blessed by God. Each one of us has been graced by God to become peacemakers. Rather than adding to the confusions that is already in our lives, rather than adding to the negativity that is already present, let us pray for the grace and listen to that voice to become that agent of peace, that agent of hope by allowing ourselves to embrace what God speaks to us.

And the second thing that we need to embrace is the ability to see the goodness of one another. When we see the goodness of one another we are able to move from disunity towards a path of unity. And when we are able to embrace the goodness of one another, then we can share in the goodness of one another and others can share in our own goodness too.

And the third thing that we perhaps could do is to have this ability to listen with our hearts. And very often, dear friends, we hear of what people say to us but we often do not listen with our hearts. And when we allow ourselves to listen to God’s word, when we allow ourselves to listen to others with our heart, then we become present in their lives.

So as the Gospel invites us, as Isaiah invites us today, to hear that voice of the Prophet John, let us remember that God is journeying together with us, asking us to listen to that voice, the voice of making peace, the voice of seeing the goodness of others, the voice of seeking what God wants of us.

And as we take this path of peace and harmony, of seeing the goodness of others and listening to one another with our hearts, let us prepare our hearts for Advent so that we are able to embrace Jesus with our whole heart. Not only with our minds but with our whole being. That this time of Christmas preparation will be a time that we see the marvels the Lord worked for us.

And let us rejoice and say: Indeed we were glad.

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