Homily: 2nd Sunday of Advent – Cycle B
Dear Sisters, as we continue
on our Advent journey and enter into this second week of Advent, our readings
point us to the image of the Parousia. “Parousia”
is a Greek word describing a triumphant entry of a king into a city where he
will ascend his throne and rule over his people. This triumphal entry of the king is something
for which the people wait with great expectation. Watchmen keep vigil for any sign of the
king’s coming while the people all prepare fervently to receive their
king. Not only is the city adorned with
festive decorations, but the people themselves put on their finest clothes. They even go out and prepare the road on
which the king will approach: striving to make it flat, wide, and level so that
nothing will hinder the king on his way.
This is something akin to
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on (what we now know as) Palm Sunday. Many people recognized Jesus as the Messiah,
the one who was to ascend to the throne of David and rule over God’s chosen
people forever. And so, as Jesus makes
his final approach to Jerusalem, these people go out to meet him and accompany
him into the city with great celebration and rejoicing, laying palm branches in
front of him as a sign of honor to him whom they acknowledge as king. This is a Parousia (although it didn’t quite
end up the way that the people expected) and it is the image to which the
writers of today’s readings are pointing as they call for preparations.
In the reading from the
prophet Isaiah, we heard a message of great comfort from God to his chosen
people. After years of oppression on the
southern kingdom of Judah and its capital city, Jerusalem, the Assyrian army
relented and retreated to Assyria.
Relieved, the Jewish people nonetheless felt like they had been
abandoned by God. Thus, the message in
today’s reading would have been one of true comfort. Not only did God assure them that he had not
abandoned them, but he declared that he was coming to them again. Judah’s God and King was returning to them:
not in some abstract way, but in a very real and tangible way—on a road! Thus in the reading we hear declared: “A
voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in
the wasteland a highway for our God!”
The Parousia of God is imminent and the people are called to prepare.
In the Gospel reading, we hear
of another call for preparation. Here it
is John the Baptist and he calls for a different type of preparation. John calls people out into the wilderness to prepare themselves for the coming of
the Messiah: the great savior that God was to send to redeem humanity. Instead of preparing a highway on which the
Messiah would triumphantly enter, John seeks to prepare a people who will be
ready to receive him when he comes. Thus,
he calls them to repentance: that is, to turn away from all sin, to be baptized
as a sign of their repentance, and to live in righteousness so that the Messiah
will find a righteous people when he comes.
John himself did not know the day on which the Messiah would appear, but
he knew that the day was close and so he called the people to prepare
themselves for his Parousia.
Dear Sisters, the liturgy is
reminding us of this image of the Parousia today because preparing for Jesus’
second coming is exactly the thing to which Advent calls us. In Advent, we are called to examine our lives
and to determine whether we are ready for his coming. In other words, we are called to ask
ourselves, “Am I truly living as one who expects Jesus’ return and so lives as
to prepare for his coming?” If I find
that the answer to that question is “no”, then I am called to repent, to seek
forgiveness from God for my negligence, and then commit myself once again to
living as who expects (and, thus, prepares for) the coming of Jesus.
The thing is, though, this
needs to be very tangible. In other words,
it can’t be an abstract idea like, “I need to be a better disciple of
Jesus.” Rather, it must be something
concrete. For example, we should ask
ourselves questions like these: “When I pray, do I pray as if Jesus has come,
is here, and is coming again?” “In my
relationships with others, do I seek to find Jesus and to make him
present?” “In my work, do I give my best
effort and strive to bear frustrations patiently, knowing that when Jesus
returns it will be my efforts and not
my successes by which I will be
judged?” When we ask and strive to
answer these questions with concrete actions in our lives, we are seeking to live
as disciples of Jesus: as those who look for and expect his coming.
My dear Sisters, let me be
clear on something: this is faith! The
letter to the Hebrews reminds us that, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped
for, and evidence of things unseen.”
That Jesus will return in the future is something that we cannot know
for certain by natural means. Yet by faith,
we can be certain of it. It takes faith,
therefore, to look at our lives and to live today in such a way that
demonstrates that we believe that Jesus will return in the future. Advent, therefore, calls us both to enkindle
our faith and to put our faith into concrete action to prepare for the triumphant
return of Jesus. ///
My dear Sisters, the promise
of our Lord is sure: he will return in his glory, though we do not know the day
nor the hour. And even though he seems
to be long-delayed in coming, we know that any “delay” on his part is for our
good: so that we can finish our preparations for his coming. Therefore, let us use this unique time in our
lives, in this unique season of the year, to re-commit ourselves to discipleship
of Jesus and, thus, to prepare for his triumphant return. As we do, our Lord will rain blessings down
upon us: not least of which is the blessing of this Holy Eucharist, in which
Jesus gives us his living presence to strengthen us until the day of his
coming. May we be ready when he comes.
Given at the Monastery of the Poor Clares: Kokomo, IN –
December 10th, 2023
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