When we place God first in our lives, the joy of the Gospel motivates us to share what we have been given.

 Second Sunday of Advent  B  2023

Today we move along on our Advent journey.  John the Baptist calls us to move from the wilderness of sin and discouragement to a state of hopefulness and trusting expectation.

In this  Advent season, John the Baptist  calls us to repentance in our Advent journey.  Additionally, in the second Scripture reading, Peter also calls us to repentance.  Peter says: “God is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

I would like to reflect with you the on the meaning of repentance that the Lord calls us to in our Advent journey -- a kind of repentance that is given to us when we encounter the Lord.

In today’s Gospel, the evangelist quotes the prophet Isaiah:  “A voice of one crying out in the desert:  Prepare the way of the Lord.”  John the Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

We can ask ourselves in the frenzy and business of the Advent season:  Where is our desert?

Sometimes the desert is found within ourselves:  the habits, the addictions, the self-centeredness, the pride that keeps us from placing God first in our lives.

Sometimes the desert is to be found in those situations  when we encounter  those who are not like us, not of our race or ethnic group, the most needy, the sick, the stranger. We must clear out the thinking that we are superior to others, the judging others as being less because they are different from us, the quick ways we condemn others.  Advent tells us Jesus comes in all of these that we look down upon and more. We must prepare to see and receive him. Something must change to allow us to do this.

When we enter into the suffering of others, as much as we can, we see that things do not always have to be as they have been in the past. It is a call to help make a change. We can make a new world. That is how we prepare for the coming of Jesus.

 

For many the word repentance is a word that belongs to yesterday.  It is equated with sackcloth and ashes.  Some see repentance as something that we do only if we get caught.  But repentance is far more than blurting our “I’m sorry” if we get caught cheating on our taxes or are engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior.

When John the Baptist calls us to repentance, he is not talking about self-incriminating scruples but for a radical open-mindedness.  The Greek word is metanoia. It means going beyond our normal mindset.  It speaks of a change in our vision of life.  It is about placing God first in our lives.

Repentance means to “rethink.”  Repentance calls to rethink and to reform our lives.  To repent means to see things differently and, as a result, to live differently.

When we place God first in our lives, the joy of the Gospel motivates us to share what we have been given.  We then prepare our hearts for the coming of the Prince of Peace.  Repentance is not negative and down faced.  Rather, it looks up and looks forward.  It breaks the chains of sin and death that hold us down.  Don’t get stuck in the notion that repentance means feeling sorry and miserable.  It is simply this.  It means you have stopped doing what is wrong, and now you are going to do the right thing.

However, make no mistake about it, John the Baptist calls us to confront sin in our life.  One of the temptations of our times is to applaud the absence of guilt.  Some people are pleased that guilt has been dethroned.  In some quarters, the absence of guilt in today’s society makes it very difficult to talk about sin and the need for repentance. 

True repentance means a willingness to confront sin in our lives.   But we are not to be bogged down in our sinfulness.    While are of us are God’s beloved and made in the image and likeness of God, none of us are perfect.  All of us are sinners.  All of us have need for the Savior.  All of us are called to repentance in this beautiful Advent season of repentance.  But be assured that God’s judgment is that we are worth saving.  God’s judgment comes to us in in His grace and mercy.

“Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord,” says the Prophet Isaiah.  That prophecy has great meaning when we apply it to our own hearts.  It is in our hearts that we need to prepare a way for the Lord.  It is in our hearts that we need to make a straight highway for God.  It is the valleys of sin in our own hearts that are to be filled with God’s mercy and healing.

One of the beautiful ways to experience repentance is the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  In this Sacrament, we encounter the merciful and healing love of Jesus who fills the valleys of sin in our hearts with God’s mercy and healing.  When we realized how much we are loved and forgiven, we are motivated to metanoia.  Like Zacchaeus, we then want to share the love we have received.

Advent is that time for us. It is a time of hopeful expectation, of preparing to receive the Lord, to see and recognize Jesus whenever he comes and however he comes. Hope is confidence in the promises of God. Things will be better, but it challenges us to make that this a reality by who we are and what we do. Make yourself ready!

This Advent we salute the forerunner John the Baptist who prepared the way by challenging the people’s sins. He was not after the popular vote. He had eyes only for God. With eyes fixed on God, John announced that the Messiah  came not to condemn but that the world might be saved through Him.

 

Are we ready to share in the work and mission of John the Baptist?  In recognizing our need to repent, may we be led to announce the merciful love of Jesus to one and all?

Advent is a call to new beginnings. That is why it is a season of hope. Things do not always have to be the same. What new beginning do you need to make this year? Do it now!

 

Have a blessed day