2nd Sunday of Advent, Cycle C Msgr. Joseph K. Ntuwa 9 December 2018 Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120918.cfm Bar 5:1-9; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6 One of the things on my ‘bucket list’ was to visit the Holy Land. Thank God, through the generosity of a friend, I made the pilgrimage in October 2010. It was a dream come true to tread in the footsteps of our Lord. It makes the Holy Scriptures speak to me deeply, especially when names of places I visited -- like Cana, Jericho, Capernaum, and the Sea of Galilee -- are mentioned in the Gospels. Another interesting site we visited in Jerusalem is the Wailing Wall. This wall is the only standing remnant of the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem that was totally destroyed by the Romans around the year 70 A.D. The pilgrim Jews make it a point to go there to pray. It is called Wailing Wall because they would cry and wail, and even bump their foreheads on the wall. But why do they cry? It is for two predominant reasons, among others. First, it is because they could not yet rebuild their Temple. The site of the Jewish Temple is at present being occupied by the Golden Dome, the mosque of the Muslims. And second, they cry because for them the Messiah has not yet come. They are still waiting for the Messiah. While the Jews still await the Messiah, we Christians believe that he has already come. He is Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah sent from heaven to save us. Through the mystery of the Incarnation, God entered human history and has become part of humanity in a very concrete way. The birth of Jesus is taken as the point of reference of the calendar of the world: B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini). The Incarnation of God, however, poses a great challenge to us. Jesus said, “Be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48) In other words, Jesus now becomes the benchmark or the model of our lives as God’s adopted children. We cannot hide anymore behind the clichéd excuse that we cannot move forward on account of the frailty of our human nature. Through Jesus we can achieve what he has achieved, for he is also human like us. He challenges us to be perfect. On this second Sunday of Advent, we hear the shout from John the Baptist, “Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.” John was led by the Spirit into a barren and lonely place away from the noise and distractions of everyday life. The desert was and is not exactly the place where people would hang out. In such solitude of the desert John was prepared for a prophetic ministry that would turn the hearts of his people to receive their long-awaited Messiah. When John the Baptist called for repentance, he was not telling people to be sorry for breaking rules. The Greek word translated here for ‘repentance’ is “metanoia’ and its biblical sense is broad and deep. John calls for an inner transformation, a radical change in lifestyle. This inner change is for all people and not for a few individuals; Jesus was not born just to a ‘holy family’ with Mary and Joseph or just to make his hometown of Nazareth a better place, though he surely did. He came to save all of us. As Christmas is still about two weeks away, let us guard against being mesmerized by the glitter and noise, the commercialism and consumerism that abound during these days. Let our focus be on Jesus. He is the reason for the season. He is the God-made-man, precisely to bring us close to God. This entails sacrifice, conversion and repentance. John the Baptist tells us what has to be done during this Advent -- the valleys of our shortcomings and sins of omission should be filled in, the mountains of our pride should be made low, the winding roads of our crooked ways should be straightened, and the rough ways of our bad manners should be made smooth. If we have been involved in some dishonest practices at school, at work or at home, we are called to straighten them out and make restitution. If we have been harboring grudges or hatred, or failing to be reconciled with others, now is the time to clear away all the debris. If we have been pushing God off to the side of our road, if we have been saying to Him that we don’t really have the time for Him, now is the time for us to get our priorities straight. John’s mission has become ours today. Preparing ‘the way’ means to create a favorable environment for Jesus to come to us and operate in our life. What specific things are you doing this Advent? God acts in our lives but we must act as well. God’s grace does not release our responsibility! Maranatha “This is not claimed as original material; it is the fruit of years of reading and research, collated by volunteers, but not always correctly footnoted, or not 1 footnoted at all. It was created solely for the purpose of an oral proclamation in the context of the liturgy of the church. Every effort has been made to provide the necessary attribution to the authors of the sources.”