Catechism Links[1]
CCC 522,
711-716, 722: The
prophets and the expectation of the Messiah
CCC 523,
717-720: The mission of
John the Baptist
CCC 1042-1050: A new heaven and a new earth
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Readings and Commentary:[4]
Reading 1: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
Comfort, give comfort to my
people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her service is at an
end,
her guilt is expiated;
indeed, she has received from
the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
A voice cries out:
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,
the rough country, a broad
valley.
Then the glory of the LORD
shall be revealed,
and all people shall see it
together;
for the mouth of the LORD has
spoken.
Go up on to a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
cry out at the top of your
voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good
news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of
Judah:
Here is your God!
Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his
flock;
in his arms he gathers the
lambs,
carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with
care.
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Commentary on Is
40:1-5, 9-11
This passage from
Isaiah provides the first prophetic vision of John the Baptist: “A voice
cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the
wasteland a highway for our God” (see Matthew 3:3 which quotes this passage). Isaiah's
prophecy then announces the coming of the Messiah and what a blessing he will
be to the people. It uses language similar to that spoken by God as Jesus walks
out of the Jordan following his baptism. He goes on in the first paragraph to
describe the compassionate and loving character of the Messiah who is to come.
In the second paragraph the prophet focuses on the new covenant that will be
established with the people with the advent of the Messiah.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14
R. (8) Lord, let us see your
kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God
proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims
peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation
to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your
kindness, and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall
meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the
earth,
and justice shall look down
from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your
kindness, and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give
his benefits;
our land shall yield its
increase.
Justice shall walk before
him,
and prepare the way of his
steps.
R. Lord, let us see your
kindness, and grant us your salvation.
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Commentary on Ps 85:9-10-11-12, 13-14
Psalm 85 is a
communal lament that focuses on the woes of the nation. These strophes reflect
the joy of salvation at the restoration of the land following the destruction
of the temple and the Diaspora. Those faithful to God see the reward: a land
restored, justice returned, and the salvation of God. When used in the context
of the Advent season, the theme of preparation for a time of peace is
announced. It is a clear tie to the herald of the Messiah, echoing Isaiah’s
oracle (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11).
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Reading II: 2 Peter 3:8-14
But do not ignore this one
fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is
like a thousand years
and a thousand years like one
day.
The Lord does not delay his
promise, as some regard “delay,”
but he is patient with you,
not wishing that any should
perish
but that all should come to
repentance.
But the day of the Lord will
come like a thief,
and then the heavens will
pass away with a mighty roar
and the elements will be
dissolved by fire,
and the earth and everything
done on it will be found out.
Since everything is to be
dissolved in this way,
what sort of persons ought (you)
to be,
conducting yourselves in
holiness and devotion,
waiting for and hastening the
coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens
will be dissolved in flames
and the elements melted by
fire.
But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a
new earth
in which righteousness
dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you
await these things,
be eager to be found without
spot or blemish before him, at peace.
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Commentary on 2 Pt
3:8-14
The author begins
this passage cautioning the people not to lose heart because the Lord had not
returned in their lifetimes. St. Peter reminds them that God’s time is
different than man’s perception: “…a thousand years like one day”
(see also Psalm
90:4). He continues,
reaffirming the Parousia (the second coming and the apocalypse). St. Peter
teaches them that they must understand the day is coming, at a time they do not
expect, when they will be called to account for how they have used the life God
gave them. Their actions, he tells them, must be the very image of holiness and
devotion to Christ Jesus.
CCC: 2 Pt
3:9 1037,
2822; 2 Pt 3:11-12 671; 2 Pt 3:12-13 677; 2 Pt 3:13 1043,
1405
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Gospel: Mark
1:1-8
The beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God).
As it is written
in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am
sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare
your way.
A voice of one
crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way
of the Lord,
make straight his
paths.”
John the Baptist
appeared in the desert
proclaiming a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the
whole Judean countryside
and all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to
him
and were being
baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they
acknowledged their sins.
John was clothed
in camel’s hair,
with a leather
belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts
and wild honey.
And this is what
he proclaimed:
“One mightier
than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy
to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized
you with water;
he will baptize
you with the Holy Spirit.”
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Commentary on Mk 1:1-8
This introduction
and beginning of St. Mark’s Gospel contains several important elements. First,
Mark begins announcing his intent; to provide the good news of Jesus as the Christ
– the Son of God. He follows this immediately by linking Jesus’ story to the
Hebrew Scriptures describing John the Baptist’s role as fulfilling the oracle
of Isaiah 40:3 (he actually includes other OT
references from Malachi
3:1; and Exodus 23:20).
The description
of John the Baptist recalls the Prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8), further establishing St. John’s role as
prophet and providing the pre-conditions necessary for the appearance of the
Messiah (it was explicit in Hebrew tradition that the appearance of the Messiah
must be preceded by the second coming of Elijah (cf Malachi 3:23-24)).
The passage
closes with St. John the Baptist announcing the coming of the Messiah who will
transform the people through, not simply repentance, but also by placing a new
spirit within them (cf. Ezekiel 36:24-28).
CCC: Mk
1:1 422,
515
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Homily:
The themes of Advent are well
represented in Sacred Scripture this day.
We begin with the prophetic vision of the Prophet Isaiah, who sees the
coming of salvation heralded by one who must appear to him to be Elijah
returning, but who is in fact, St. John the Baptist.
The glory of God will be
revealed as his path is prepared. We
understand the metaphor being used. Not
only must the event be announced, but the spirit of those who will receive the
gift must be readied. Preparing a path
for the Lord means that the “will” must be ready to accept the spirit of
holiness that God will impart.
St. Mark introduces us to the
herald of Christ, St. John the Baptist.
We have known about him from before his birth. He greeted Holy Mary when Jesus was in her
womb by leaping for joy (Luke
1:39-45). Now, fully grown, he takes up his mission,
calling for a return to God’s law and reign.
Eccentrically, he comes out of the wilderness reminding us of the
Prophet Elijah, and basically hijacks the Jewish rite of ritual purification.
(The Pharisees used this ritual out of Ezekiel’s prophetic book (Ezekiel 36:24-29) to symbolize that they had turned from sin. Later,
in Jesus' public ministry (John
2:1-11), the Lord changes water
intended for this use into wine at the Wedding Feast at Cana.)
The Baptist calls for
conversion of heart and “repentance for
the forgiveness of sins.” We note
that St. John clarifies that there is one coming after him who will forgive
those sins. His baptism is symbolic, the
Lord’s is efficacious – it does what it signifies.
All of this is given to us in
scripture, and how do we take it to heart?
As luck would have it, I had a recent experience that provides an apt
analogy.
Our family has a cabin
(literally a log cabin) up north near Gladwin Michigan. In that cabin there is a very old round
wooden table. How old, I’m not exactly
sure, but to give you an idea, it was found in the attic of a house my parents
bought in 1961. It had been there for a
long time and house itself was nearly 100 years old. My guess is the table is probably around 100
years old now. It once had leaves, long
since lost. The table is about 5 feet in
diameter so our family of 7 fit around it quite nicely. It became our kitchen table and the place
where most of our meals were shared. In
that role it saw a lot of use.
When my mother found the
table she went to work on it. She took
off the peeling surface veneer and underneath found solid planks of what she
called wormy Walnut, really pretty wood in spite of the name. Knowing the use she had in mind for the table,
she needed to protect that wooden surface.
She proceeded to refinish the top using stain and varnish. Now, the varnish available back in the early sixties
was not what we have today. She put on
several coats of varnish in order to protect it from spills and five growing
children. As the years wore on, this varnish became sticky. By the time it was moved to the cabin in the
early seventies the top had become tacky enough so that we expected to find
flies trapped on its surface.
We decided it was time to
refinish the table. So, on a long
weekend the project was undertaken. For
those of you who have never refinished furniture here is the process we
followed:
First – the table was taken
apart. The top was placed on long
benches in the garage and the pedestal was put next to it on the same drop
cloth we had under the table top.
Second – the old varnish had
to be stripped off so we applied stripping compound and let it sit
overnight. We were not sure if we were
going to need to do this twice since at some point in the recent past a plastic
table cloth was put on the table and the backing, a sort of cotton fabric, had
stuck to the top so it looked as if it was growing fur.
Third – the next morning we
came out with plastic putty knives and scraped off the gooey mess. Even though that was a messy job it was
easier than what had to happen next.
Fourth – we needed to take
the top down to clean bare wood so we started sanding – and sanding – and
sanding, first with coarse paper, then medium, then fine, until we had a clean
smooth surface.
Fifth – came the stain. In
our case we used a combination stain and polyurethane coating so we combined
two steps that any cabinet makers among you might consider sacrilege. But we needed to put on two coats and could
have put on a third.
To complete the job we
polished up the top with fine steel wool and moved it back inside and
re-assembled it. The results were
good. The table no longer traps flies
and it looks great in that old log cabin of approximately the same age.
That refinishing project is
what St. John the Baptist invites us to do to ourselves in this advent season
as we hear his call to repentance. Just
like that old table, our finish gets flawed and perhaps even sticky with time. We need to strip off that old finish and
renew ourselves as we prepare to receive the great guest who comes at the
Nativity of the Lord.
First, just as with that old
table, we need to strip off the varnish of sin and bad habits that have
accumulated since last we undertook this kind of effort. Also like the table, the longer it’s been
since we have had ourselves down to bare wood, the more difficult the finishing
process is going to be. In place of the
stripping compound and sandpaper we have the sacrament of reconciliation to
take care of the really big stuff, sins that blemish the soul.
Once we get that taken care
of we can start refining the clean-up process.
Prayer is a great refiner of our spiritual selves. It is a lot like sanding if you think about
it. Since we are commanded to pray in
private, no one really sees us praying, but it is in that way we get to know
the Lord. We speak with him and he
answers (if we listen). While people do
not see that interior life of prayer, it is the foundation that ultimately
determines what is seen by others.
So, in our analogy what
represents that last step, the finishing process, in our lives? It is our actions in accordance with our
faith. It is how we act around others
and what we do for those less fortunate.
Acts of charity do amazing things for the luster of our finish. In those
instances, others see us as we hope to be seen, as adopted children of God.
As we really get into our
Advent journey the hardest part is really deciding to begin the transformation
that will make us worthy to receive the one who came and who is to come. Let that be our pledge going forward; that we
will make the effort to remake ourselves so that like a beautiful piece of
furniture we will be fitting guests at our Lord’s great feast.
Pax
[1]
Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for
Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[2]
The picture used today is “St. John the
Baptist” by Francesco Solimena, c. 1700
[4]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
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