Homily on the Second Sunday of Advent; 10 December 2023, DBPH Chapel
Next week I will be officiating the wedding of a couple who comes all the way from Canada. Last week they actually went through a terrible experience. Upon arrival in Manila the father of the groom tested positive for Covid and had to be isolated. Then a couple of days later the groom’s Mom also got the same symptoms, but tested negative.
After her, the next to be hit was his fiancée. She had to be rushed to the emergency room for severe abdominal pain. The doctors initially suspected something very serious, and they thought that she would have to undergo surgery for appendicitis. However, after more than eight hours in the ER, the lab tests finally showed that her abdominal pain was caused by the rupture of the egg released by her ovary. And the good news is that admission in the hospital was no longer necessary, and that she could be taken home. That was a great relief.
And so, last Thursday by the grace of God, the four of them were able to board their flight to Cebu and are now making the final preparations for the wedding. Can you imagine the ordeal they had to go through? On a personal note, I really thought the wedding would not push through anymore as scheduled. But I was amazed that God in his goodness empowered them to overcome this trial with great patience, and confident hope.
Today we begin the second week of our Advent preparation. And this is precisely the call and invitation we have heard from the gospel today. The long awaited Messiah is indeed coming just as John the Baptist proclaimed in the desert long ago, and so we need to prepare the way for him.
It is important for us to know that the situation at that time when John the Baptist began his preaching was not so different from our own situation today. People everywhere were suffering mostly because of the Roman forces that occupied their land, imposing heavy taxes on them. Many Jews who tried to resist control were imprisoned, executed or killed.
Moreover, the Jewish religious laws were also very rigid and those who broke them were relentlessly punished. For more serious violations, they were either expelled from the community or stoned to death. And among all violators those who suffered the most were the poor, the sick, and the handicapped. Hence, people really felt the need of a Savior who would redeem them from all these evils and give them back the freedom and happiness they have been longing for.
It was therefore in this context that John the Baptist, moved by the Spirit, came out publicly to proclaim a message of hope and salvation. He felt and realized that the people should be ready when the long awaited Messiah would finally come. For him, being a Jew (being part of God’s chosen people) was not sufficient to be saved. Everyone should repent and be baptized. All should humbly acknowledge their sinfulness and open their hearts to meet their Savior.
In the first reading we heard the prophet Isaiah proposing a clear way forward on how best to prepare oneself. To his fellow Jews at that time, he said, “In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain” What could these words really mean? During the time of their exile in Babylon hundreds of years prior to the preaching of John the Baptist, Isaiah probably meant that the exiled Jews would finally be allowed to return to Israel, their native land, led by the powerful Messiah. And so the road from Babylon to Jerusalem should be made straight, flattened and smoothened so that their return from exile would be hastened without delay.
Today those same words are being addressed to us in this liturgical assembly, but this time their meaning could be something more spiritual than our minds can think of. If we have been exiled by our own weakness and sinfulness we are now called to make a return to the Lord. And in order that the Lord may hasten to save us without delay, we are enjoined to build the smoothest and straightest superhighway for him in our hearts.
How do we do that? It is by leveling down the steep mountain of our pride through the bulldozer of humility and the backhoe of patience. Aside from that we also need to fill up the deep valley of our selfishness with the precious gems of goodness, kindness, and compassion towards our neighbor, especially towards the poor, the needy and the suffering. We need to fix our lives and make all our relationships straight, smooth and beautiful by observing the Lord’s commands and living a life pleasing to God.
Last Friday, December 8, we celebrated the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of our Blessed Mother. Our Blessed Mother’s presence during our advent journey serves as our best inspiration and our finest model in preparing for the coming of the Messiah. Among all the women in this world she was the only one who had been preserved from all stain of sin from the moment of her conception. And all her life, she not only remained blameless, spotless or unblemished before God and his people, but above all, she lived a life filled with God’s grace, always selfless in serving those in need. That is why she was found worthy to have Jesus conceived first in her pure heart, then only secondly in her most blessed womb.
As we celebrate this Mass on this second Sunday of Advent may this Eucharist open our eyes, our ears and our hearts more fully to listen and heed the call of John the Baptist. May this Eucharist also empower us to renew our lives and restore our relationships, with God, with others, with our environment, and with ourselves, so that the Lord may soon find a smooth spiritual highway straight to our hearts, where he can be born this Christmas. GiGsss!
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