Sunday, December 7, 2003
2^nd Sunday of Advent, Year C.

Bar. 5, 1-9: God will care for you with justice and mercy.
Responsorial Psalm: 125, 1-6. God has been great with us and we are full of joy.
Phil. 1, 4-6.8-11: May your love grow even more
Lk 3, 1-6: Prepare the way of the Lord.

The time of Advent is a time of hope and of openness to change: a change of clothing, of name (Baruch), a change of route (Isaiah). Change so that all can see the salvation of God.

In a lovely poem, Baruch sings with joyful faith about the house in which the Eternal One is going to fulfill the messianic promises, is going to build a new Jerusalem, is going to grant salvation. Jerusalem is presented as a Mother, in mourning for her exiled children. God gives to Sion, the spouse, salvation like a royal mantle, crowns her with a diadem as the Glory of the Eternal One. The desolate mother who saw her sons leave, enslaved and in chains, is going to see them return free and celebrated, like a king who comes to possess his throne. He is given a new, symbolic name: Peace of Justice-Glory of Mercy, i.e., City of Peace for the salvation received from God. City of Glory for the merciful love God shows. Echoing the prophets of the Exile, Baruch says a consoling word to a people in suffering. The Lord remembers you (5,5). Second Isaiah had already asked: “Can a mother forget her child? And even if she should forget, I will not forget you” (Is 49,15). This faithful God does not forget Jerusalem, the spouse, who is now invited to take off her mourning clothes and dress herself in the eternal gown of glory that God gives her (5,1). It is the salvation that God offers to those he loves. Where is our Christian prophecy? The prophet isn’t a fortuneteller, nor someone who predicts future events. The prophet speaks from the cry of the poor and tries always to do justice. Obviously he worries about the people’s future, the bloody situation of the poor. Prophets rise up in moments of crisis and change, when new situations appear that are full of liberty, justice, solidarity and peace. The mission of the Christian prophet is to question those systems that are unfaithful to the Spirit, to defend all oppressed people, to breathe hope in catastrophic situations and to promote conversion toward attitudes of solidarity. He lives the experience of the people and makes contact with God, and from these he obtains strength for his mission. Through the prophets, God guides his people with justice and mercy (Bar 5,9). The prophet flattens the roads for travel.

In the Gospel, when the fullness of time comes, God himself announces the approach of the Kingdom through John the Baptist and affirms with Isaiah that all will see the salvation of God. (Lk 3,6). We have to prepare the way for the God who comes with his gift of salvation in the “today” of our own history. John the Baptist, the prophetic precursor of Jesus, was the son of a mute man (symbol of a silenced people) who renounced his priesthood (symbol of inherited privilege), and a sterile woman (symbol of the fruit of the Spirit). The Word came to them when they moved away from power and were in contact with their base, the people. The Word always comes from the desert (where words are all there is) and is aimed at institutions (where idols are found) to unmask them. The prophetic word cost John his life. His prophetic desire is deep and universal: “that all may see the salvation of God”. Salvation comes within history (our history becomes the history of salvation), with one condition: Conversion (prepare the way of the Lord). What do we all have to do to become a little bit prophetic? The invitation of Isaiah, repeated by John the Baptist, and corroborated by Baruch, invites us to enter into the dynamism of conversion, to get going on the journey, to change. To change from within, believing in the basics, in love, which discerns what is perfect (Phil 1,10). With the discernment and sensitivity of love we will hear the demands of the Lord who comes, and we will go out to meet him full of the fruits of justice (1,11). That renewal from within will show itself from without because “the mountains will be brought low, the valleys filled, the crooked will be made straight, and the rough ways smooth” (Bar 5,7). “Roughness will be made smooth, inequalities will be suppressed, distances will be shortened, so that salvation may come to all. Humanity transformed is humanity reconciled and made equal, incorporated into the family of faith: “the children reunited from East to West” (Bar 5,5). To be converted, then, is to open our hearts and increase our hope so they are as big as the world, as open as God’s heart. A humanity more egalitarian and respectful of the dignity of all is the best road to meet God bringing his salvation. All should examine which sacrifices they must make to straighten what is cooked, bring down the mountains, and fill the valleys. Our roads must be made straight so that God can arrive on them. Advent must be an intense time for our transformation, for our encounter with God, with that God who becomes a human Person to save us, a time for us to enter into our own depths. Let us allow grace to impregnate us with this event that is coming near, let us allow the celebrations of the Eucharist and of the liturgy of these days to help us deepen the mystery that we are about to celebrate. United in hope we walk together to meet God. But at the same time, he walks with us, showing us the way, because “God will lead Israel amidst feasts, by the light of his Glory, with justice and mercy.” (Bar 5,9).

For personal conversion:

Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths...What are the crooked roads in my life? What is it that God wants me to straighten out in my personal life? What crooked roads of society can I and must I influence to straighten them out?

For small church communities or bible study groups:

What are the great, crooked roads in today’s society, the most influential causes of the malaise of the world community, shaken by insecurity, tension and terrorism? What roads can be built to bring hope to this society? How can we straighten out the roads so that the Kingdom of God can come with greater dispatch? How can the ordinary person live this time in which Christmas approaches? They say that “the paradigm is changing” and that “now is not the time for prophecy, but for wisdom”, now is not the time for denunciation but for exile and contemplation. Do we agree? Why or why not?

Discuss the mission of the Baptist as precursor of Jesus and the mission of Christians of today as those who prepare the way for God in our time of religious pluralism. What ideas or opinions do we have about conversion?

 For the prayer of the faithful:

-That during this time of Advent, we may nourish our hope and that of others, giving concrete testimony, with our commitment, that the world can change and that hope is possible... We pray to our God.

-That prophets may not be lacking in this desert in which it is said that the time for prophets has passes and that now is the time for “silent wisdom”... We pray to our God.

-For all those who have the calls of prophecy, that they may be supported and not deprived of this gift of God which belongs to us all... We pray to our God.

 -For all who cry out and protest prophetically: that they may not become tired, even though they feel like “voices crying in the wilderness "... We pray to our God.

-With a view toward the anniversary of the Declaration on Human rights, we pray for our civil society, that it may be permeated more and more with the consciousness of its obligations and their fulfillment... We pray to our God.

-For the whole world, that we may take steps toward a world where human rights become a reality... We pray to our God.

Community Prayer:

O God, our Father and Mother, who sent John the Baptist to go before your son Jesus, announcing him and crying out for conversion; grant that we, too, may always be "precursors" of your Son, that we may straighten out the roads on which, every day, you wish to come to us; that Son who lives and reigns with you forever and ever.

O God of all peoples, you have sent through the centuries your messengers, prophets and precursors for all your people; we ask you to grant that we Christians always recognize your presence in all of them, and that we rejoice in your constant and silent action in all peoples and in all religions, until the day when your Kingdom comes for all human persons. We ask this through Jesus, your son and our brother. Amen.