ADVENT OF THE CHANGE: WORDS AND ACTIONS.
December 4, 2022.
Second Sunday of Advent - A.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Mt 3:1
A Tibetan proverb says: “To change the world we must first
change ourselves.” And an Iranian proverb adds: “Necessity can change a lion
into a fox.”
Advent is a time when each one is called to join actions to
his words. That is what it means to be a prophet. For, Advent is a prophetic
time for repentance, a sincere and qualitative change in one's life. And our
Advent pilgrimage gets all its meaning when we let the calling of the Advent
Prophet, John the Baptist, find a root in our hearts and bear fruits. Without
repentance, the Advent journey is a waste of time.
If last Sunday we were urged to be vigilant, today the
accent is on repentance, the second Advent attitude. Vigilance to prepare a way
for the Lord who is coming. And repentance to let him find a place in our
hearts and lives when he comes.
On this second Sunday, while we light the Candle of Peace, a
message that flows rightly from the first reading, we are urged to make
ourselves instruments of that Peace through the change of heart and life.
Change your hearts, that is the insistent and loud call of John the Baptist,
the voice that shouts in the desert. John was presented as the greatest prophet,
the Prophet of the first Advent. And because his message is still actual and
applies to you and me even today, John, therefore, stands as the Prophet of the
continual and gradual Advent, announcing to us the unending and ever-new coming
of the Lord, so the ever need for conversion. For, though the Lord came more
than two thousand years ago, he has yet to come in many places and many lives
and situations. Conversion has not yet reached all hearts and so change for
peace has not yet taken over our world.
In today's first Reading, we have the great prophecy of
peace and harmony. Isaiah foretells a world invaded by the Spirit of God and
where the Wisdom of God reigns. In that world animated by the Spirit of wisdom
and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge, and fear of God, there will be
no evil. Peace will reign and every creature will be neighbors and friends.
“The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the
kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to
guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall
rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra's
den, and the child lay his hand on the adder's lair. There shall be no harm or
ruin...” This prophetic dream of peace and justice cannot be possible without
conversion and repentance. Thus, the message of John the Baptist in the Gospel.
Without change, without sincere conversion enemies can never
sit together around the same table. Without change, our world will always be
filled with a succession of oppositions, hatred, and division, and so will
never become a better place to be. Because we will always see others as enemies
to destroy if not be destroyed by them.
Reflecting on these words of today’s liturgy, came into my
mind the lyrics of this great and prophetic song by Michael Jackson, Heal the
world. He says: “Heal the world. Make it a better place, for you and for me,
and the entire human race. There are people dying, if you care enough for the
living, make a better place for you and for me. If you want to know why there's
love that cannot lie… Love is strong it only cares of joyful giving. If we try
we shall see in this bliss we cannot feel fear of dread, we stop existing and
start living…” Everyone is urged to make his own the call for conversion and to
walk this journey with sincerity of heart.
As we heard in the Gospel, while John was preaching in the
desert and calling the people to repent, Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, and
many others came to him to be baptized. John however emphasizes the sincerity
of conversion. It must not be hypocritical. Change calls to join words and
actions. Our lifestyle must speak of our change, just like that of John
himself: “John wore clothing made of camel's hair and had a leather belt around
his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.” Simplicity, humility,
detachment… a life of poverty. “If you are repentant, produce the appropriate
fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves...” that you are righteous, John
told the Pharisees. Our lives must witness our conversion just as our words. We
must teach through the exemplarity of life.
Many things, today, separate us from each other. As we make
this Advent journey and dream of change, we must truly examine our lives and
honestly point out what separates us from our neighbors, what barriers hinder
our way from building a better world or making this world a better place to be,
what prevents us building harmony in our families, communities, churches,
societies, and nations. Why is Isaiah’s prophecy not reaching its fulfillment?
And what must we do for it to become possible?
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