SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT, YEAR C

Baruch 5:1-9

Psalm 125

Philippians 1:3-6.8-11

Luke 3:1-6

PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD!

As we continue our Advent journey, today’s readings challenge us to hope against all hope and work on ourselves so as to prepare the way of the Lord. The prophet Baruch’s message in the first reading was good news to the Israelites during the Babylonian exile (587-537 BC). It was a song to keep their hope alive. Through the prophet Baruch, the Lord announced that he was coming to bring to an end their sufferings and liberate them from bondage. Like the foreman of a road crew, God would order that mountains be leveled and gorges filled in for the building of a royal road on which “Israel may advance secure in the glory of God”.

In the gospel, St Luke takes up this imagery and gives us the historical and geographical context of the ministry of John the Baptist who was the precursor of Jesus Christ. John was preaching to a people subject to the Roman domination and announcing the coming of the promised Messiah. He was the voice crying in the wilderness, calling the people to a radical renewal and conversion of heart, and challenging them to prepare the way for the Lord.

We may be tempted to ask ourselves if these readings are still relevant to us today. The answer is yes for two reasons. First, no matter what we are going through, especially with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are not to lose hope. For the Lord is coming and “all flesh shall see the salvation of God”. He has promised; and he will not fail.

Second, we must identify the valleys, mountains, winding ways and rough roads in our lives, and work on them so as to get prepared for the coming of the Lord. Our weaknesses, unfaithfulness, lukewarm attitudes, pride, inconsistencies, hardness of heart and any kind of negative attitude are to be worked on so that they do not constitute an obstacle in our relationships with God and with others. Let us make ours Saint Paul’s prayer for the Philippians in the second reading, so that we may remain pure and blameless for the coming of the Lord. Amen.