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Homily for Second Sunday of Advent - Cycle B

Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 ; 2Peter3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8

Fr. Antony Akkanath


My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As the entire world still confronts COVID-19, most of the people are living in fear and uncertainty. In these pandemic times we are eagerly waiting to hear some sensible voices and some kind of good news from anywhere and anyone. But the prophetic voices which used to bring hope and consolation in the lives of people in the past are very much missing in the world of today.

In the readings of today we have the prophetic voices of three great men who brought the message of hope and expectation to the people by inviting them to prepare the way for someone special and something good.

In the first reading and in today's Gospel we heard two voices, one voice is the joyful voice of Prophet Isaiah and the other voice is of John the Baptist. These two voices, even though they were centuries apart, use the same words to address people, in the backdrop of a hot desert. In the first reading of today Prophet Isaiah, the advent prophet, addresses the Jewish people during their Babylonian exile, and urges them to ‘prepare a way in the desert’. A straight way in the desert which would take them out of exile to the Promised Land. Before the coming of the Saviour of the World, God’s Chosen People had experienced times of sadness, darkness and despair, to the point that the prophet Isaiah gives them a positive message of hope saying that a much needed consolation would come from heaven for them. In the same manner, today, we are also encouraged to raise our eyes to heaven and ask help from above so that the Lord would intervene to heal the heart of this humanity wounded by so many evils and problems.

In the Gospel today Mark introduces the figure of John the Baptist with the same words of the prophet Isaiah: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten his paths’. The edifying presence of John the Baptist forces the Evangelist Mark, and the other Synoptic gospel writers, to change the punctuation and place the prophetic voice in a specific place: ‘A voice cries out in the desert: Prepare the way’.

In the Sacred Scripture the desert is a place of repentance and conversion, where one is forced to wander to become someone good and better. Desert is also the place where the chosen people who left Egypt had to pass to reach the new Promised Land. It is a place of testing, of essentiality and of encounter with God.

John baptized the people in the desert and immersed his disciples in the waters of the Jordan River.

The Jordan is an important river for the people of Israel: It is the river they had crossed to enter the Promised Land, with a new condition which was no longer of slavery but of freedom, no longer of sadness but of joy. John the Baptist invited people to come out of the Promised Land, to return back once again to the desert, to those pagan land, just like when they were exiled to Egypt. It is a way of recognizing that they are weak and they have been unfaithful to the Lord. Then, after receiving the baptism in the river Jordan, they can once again go back to the Promised Land by making a resolution to obey the Lord and keep his commandments at the centre of their lives. The Baptism given by John was a sign for them. Because they all felt the need of it. They also felt the need to go back to something authentic, which would give meaning to their life. The Baptist's announcement of the imminent coming of the Messiah also resounds in the Gospel. John preaches to his followers "a baptism of conversion for the forgiveness of sins". The gospel tells us that this cry of John the Baptist was well accepted by the people and they went out to John to get baptized. For John it was a way of preparing the people for welcoming the Messiah. To meet the Son of God, it was necessary for them to prepare themselves, to change the way of their thinking, to change their life from within so that it becomes easier for them to listen to the teachings of Jesus.

In the second reading of today, taken from the second letter of St. Peter, there is an invitation to personal repentance and conversion. In his letter he asks a valid question to all of us. Given the fact that the Lord will come again, what kind of people we ought to be and must be our way of behaving? The answer is also given by himself; we must live in holiness. He also gives us a final recommendation that we must make every effort from our side to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him when He comes in his glory.

Friends, today we listened and reflected on the two voices in the desert, demanding a change of heart from the people. One was of the prophet Isaiah during the time of the Babylonian exile; the other was from the prophet of Jesus' time, John the Baptist; we also heard the call to holiness given by Peter.

As in the times of Prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist and Peter in the present world of today, we are also urgently in need of many prophets who have the courage to speak out and tell the truth and to encourage people to change their hearts to the ways of the Lord. But, where are the voices crying out in the desert in today’s world? Whose voice we must listen to?

I think, in today’s world, the voices that cry out in the desert for the humanity that experiences fear and uncertainty, are all those voices that have messages of kindness, love, care, faith and hope. Even all those voices which are raised to defend life, peace, justice, truth, morality, and honesty are also prophetic voices for us today.

Who are the John the Baptists of the present day that the Lord has sent, to make us understand, what is really necessary and essential to live the Gospel Values? For me anyone who invites us to stop for a while to reflect, to take stock of our lives, and to evaluate all our activities which contribute to building the Kingdom of God and its values and eventually bring us happiness. I also think that this CoronaVirus pandemic and these Lockdown days are rare occasions God has given us to stop and reflect and to take stock of our worldly life as well as our spiritual life.

My dear brothers and sisters, every Advent is a time when we hope with great expectation that He will come to save us from the worries of our present day. He would come to transform our hearts! Jesus came to this world to teach us who his Father really is, contradicting many misconceptions that the people had about God. He revealed to us that His Father is not a task master to be feared, but He is a loving Father, not far away, but very close to us and who always desires to be with us. We often expect the Lord to come again and solve all our physical, material, political and economic problems. But we forget that He had come, He comes daily in the Eucharist and He will come again to offer us the possibility of being one with him for giving a share in His Eternal Life.

So my dear friends, following the invitations of John the Baptist and Peter, let us learn to prepare ourselves worthily, by turning away from sins, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


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