ADVENT OF RESTORATION AND PEACE.

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December 5, 2021
Second Sunday of Advent – C.

READINGS: Bar 5:1-9; Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6; Phil 1:4-6,8-11; Lk 3:1-6.

“A voice of one crying out in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…” (Luke 3:4)

A Ghanaian proverb says: “When a man is coming toward you, you need not say, ‘Come here.’ be prepared rather to welcome him.” And an Ivorian proverb adds: “He who never knows where he is coming from will never know where he is going.”

One of the greatest achievements in Advent time is restoration. Man is brought back to his God through acts of repentance and conversion. The coming of the Lord is to reconcile the sinful humanity to its Creator. And so, the time that prepares us to relive that coming sounds the melody and the divine symphony of restoration.

Advent, however, is also a time for a new beginning, new world, new life, new coming. The old, made of sorrow and sadness will be forgotten and give the way to the new, made of triumph and glory. Peace will fill all heart that seeks God. Here is the beautiful message of this second Sunday of Advent.

The Prophet Baruch, in the first reading, speaks of the restoration of Jerusalem. The people who were brought sorrowfully in exile will triumphally be brought back in their land and the City of God, the City of Peace, be restored in her original splendor. No more mourning and misery. A new world will begin, a new life for the people. God, then, will show to all the earth the splendor and beauty of his land. Jerusalem will be baptized with a new name, city of peace, and God's glory. This will be a time for great rejoicing. Accompanying this restoration, Baruch announces that “every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground.” The Lord will do this great work for his people.

This newness and restoration announced by Baruch is also the message of John the Baptist in the Gospel, when, like a voice in the desert, he calls the people to prepare the way for the Lord's coming. John announces that "all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Advent, thus, is the beginning of human salvation. The newness of life will be possible through conversion. We are all called to “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths…”

The coming of the Lord will bring about great and universal salvation and joy. For this, we are exhorted to make a way ready, that is, to prepare our hearts which, because of sin were like a winding road, rough and unlevelled. They are now to be smooth, straight, and filled with love. 

St. Paul, in his address to the Philippians, tells us what to do to be ready for this advent: show yourselves pure and blameless for the day of Christ. This passes through a love that “may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value” and live according to it.

Advent is a time to increase more and more in love, and as Paul said, we should never stop improving our knowledge and deepening our perception so that we can always recognize what is best. In everything we do and say, we should aim at the best, and not content ourselves in mediocrities and evilness. Goodness should be a priority for us.

The Advent season is the most favorable time to develop the little goodness we have, hidden in our hearts. God created us good. Here, therefore, is the time to restore that goodness, and thus, we could reach the perfect stature of Christ.

May we never forget this truth. As we said last Sunday, Advent is a twofold journey: journey to Christmas and journey to the final coming of the Lord. This second aspect of our Advent pilgrimage must therefore capture more of our attention and motivate us to prepare, daily, a way for the Lord in our lives. For, “Behold, the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.” (Cf. Entrance Antiphon, Is 30: 19, 30).

On this second Sunday of this new Advent, let us ask the Lord to send us many other John the Baptists, prophets of the new coming to call us for restoration and preparedness and lead us into the right way of conversion. May we also become like John the Baptist, people who are willing to prepare the way and make straight the path so others may walkthrough it. May this Advent be not only a time for external preparation made of decorations and artifices but rather for inner preparation: conversion of hearts, love, generosity, selflessness… In so doing, we will truly feel the perfume of peace and bring that peace to others too.


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