09 December 2023 – 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year B) | Sunset Mass

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

Last Sunday, our Readings was about vigilance, of staying awake. And today’s Readings speaks about preparation, preparation for this conversion of heart for the coming of our Saviour at Christmas.

And as we prepare ourselves, we need to be mindful and recognise our own shortcomings as we smoothen the valleys and the hills flattened. As it says:
A voice cries out: “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 hills be laid low. That every cliff become a plain and the ridges a valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all the mankind shall see it that the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

And as we look at this, dear friends, as we prepare our hearts for the coming of our Saviour, we need to ask ourselves how are we preparing for this Season of Advent, for the coming of our Saviour? Because all of us fall short of that glory of God. All of us have shortcomings, all of us need to be in this process of leading towards the path that the Lord wants of us. 

The first thing, perhaps, that we can do to prepare ourselves is to look at the aspect of prayer; whether do we pray too little or do we don’t pray at all? And if we are in these two categories, it is a time and a reminder because during this time of Advent, we need to heighten our intensity of prayer, to give space and to make space for Jesus in our lives so that we are able to recognise our shortcomings as He reveals to us.

And in the parish, we have allocated two hours of every day, 7.15-9.15pm every single day to come before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and asking Him to reveal in ourselves and to prepare our hearts for the coming of our Saviour. And if you want to make time, you want to spend time with Jesus to allow Him to reveal what He wants you to do this Advent, then come and spend that little time, whatever time that you can spend before the Blessed Sacrament or at any time in the chapel. Come and make time for God.

So the first thing to prepare is prayer.

And the second thing that we need to prepare, dear friends, is our act of charity. And very often we may see that the act of charity is always focused on material things. But we need to be reminded that this lack of charity in our lives may also be spiritual, can be material and can be also emotional as well. And if we open our eyes to see what are the realities of the world that is around us, and when we are able to see with deeper clarity what is happening around the world, what is happening around our lives, what is happening within ourselves, then we are able to extend the tents of our hearts to grow in this act of charity. And all that we need to do, dear friends, is to be attentive to those promptings of God in our own lives and in the lives of others and the situations that is around us.

And as you look at the video just before the Mass, the campaign Kasih, an initiative taken by the Episcopal Commission of the whole Malaysia to allocate this funds specifically for Caritas Malaysia at the National Office, the Creation Justice Commission and also the Commission for Migrants and Itinerants. And all these are pressing needs that we have all around us. And how can we contribute our part? How can we pray? How can we support financially? How can we do our little part in growing in this aspect of charity, especially during this time of Advent? And the Bishops have made this commitment to collect this fund on every 2nd Sunday of Advent, on the 2nd Collection moving forward.

And the third thing, dear friends, that we need to be mindful after prayer, after the act of charity, is the path of humility. And as we prepare our hearts for Advent, we must be mindful that the figure of St John the Baptist gives us an opportunity to see how should we prepare our hearts during this Advent. What his life speaks to us is his life of simplicity and humility, that he was able to recognise that someone greater than him was to come. And he was not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of His sandals. If we are able to recognise, dear friends, our relationship with God? And when we are able to recognise who God is in our lives and that we are only creatures, then we are able to submit whatever the Lord stirs in our hearts, to move and to propel forward.

And today as well, as I looked at the preparation for the children’s camp, last week for the graduation day for the CEC and also all the preparation that we are doing towards Advent and Christmas, it gives me a lot of courage, a lot of hope, a lot of reasons to be grateful for what we are doing as a parish, what you are doing, as a parish in order to make this preparation more meaningful for you, to extend the tents of our hearts, to extend the tents of your hearts and to make space for Jesus.

And let us pray, dear friends, that this time of preparation as we prepare our hearts for the coming of Jesus, that we too may walk in this path of pray, that we may walk in this path of charity and that we may walk in the path of humility.

Click below to listen to the homily and watch the video:-

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