Fr. Michael Carlini, SX
Second Sunday of Advent
“The word of God came to John (the Baptist) son of Zechariah, in the wilderness” (Lk 3:3)
The Church is a mother to all of us. She leads us by our hand through the liturgical seasons of the year. Our journey towards the coming of the Lord at Christmas reaches today the second Sunday of Advent. It is the Sunday of John the Baptist, the last of the prophets of the First Testament and, at the same time, he is the link with the New. The people of Israel at the time of Jesus were waiting for the Lord to visit them. This desire had been cultivate in their hearts by all the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, kings and prophets sent by God. We all experience the desire that something new would appear in our lives. Israel did not know the time for this liberation to begin. It is God that takes the initiative; he takes the first step and sends his word onto John. The Baptist could receive this gift because he had prepared his heart (life of prayer) and body (sobriety of life) for this coming, long before he started to prepare the people with his preaching and baptism. The initiative is always by God.
Advent is a time of movement already in the name itself. During this liturgical season nobody can sit still or remain static, but everyone has to move towards a destination that must already be known at the start. No one ventures on a journey without knowing the arrival. But for us who believe sometimes the opposite is true: we know the goal and the arrival, but often we fail the route. The season of advent is an opportunity that we have to adjust our trajectory and the pace of our going. The examination of conscience is a stage, a drink of water on this journey that already captures the soul.
The Four Advent Candles
It is a widespread tradition to place four candles on the altar during Advent. In some houses they are present also on the table during meals.
2nd week of Advent. We light, as a visible sign, the second candle to express symbolically that our heart burns as it is going to meet the Lord who comes and at the same time is consumed with love for him and our brothers and sisters throughout the world. To burn and to be consumed is imitating the incarnate God who, in his passion for humanity, did not hesitate to burn in death to give us a life in the fullness of love.
‘Let us pray’
- Lord, this candle is a sign of Advent. It is a light that illuminates the difficulties and decisions. It is fire that burns impurities, selfishness and pride.
- Just as this candle is consumed in the rite, sacrament of inner fire, likewise, when the celebration is over, we want to continue to burn on the streets of life with you, together with our brothers and sisters in the world.
First Reading (Baruch 5:1-9)
What Jerusalem represented for Baruch, today for us is the Eucharist. Jerusalem was the ideal city and the prospect of a community of free men and women: belonging to the Holy City gave a unique identity and also guaranteed access to the salvation of God. Our city is the Eucharist which gathers us inside the dynamic of his Word and nourishes us with the bread of life to give us the identity of «scattered, displaced», who have the world for their homeland and humanity for family.
It is the prospect of the second reading where Paul prays that the citizens of Philippi, who are immersed in the world, must be aware of guarding themselves from the mentality of this world: “This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us”.
Psalm 125: Inhabit the future
The Psalm describes the life of the farmer. He is faced by a difficult challenge when the season of for sowing comes: in his store there are but a few cups of rice left, the food is scarce. The natural desire is to cook that rice and eat it. But the farmer is a person of hope: he believes that by sowing those seeds in the field, each grain will produce a hundred times more, and his family will have food for the whole year. As we read Psalm 125 we can see what it describes with our own eyes: the sower goes to the farm in tears (it is difficult to detach himself from that seed); those tears become the water that irrigates the field and when harvest season reaches, there is a new light in his eyes and great joy in his heart. We too believe that whenever we plant the seed of God’s kingdom in the garden of our neighbor, it will bear fruit in our own garden. This is exactly the beauty of the virtue of Hope: it makes us see what is yet invisible: the farmer sees the seed that is going to be buries into the soil, and he will not be able to eat it, whilst the Person of Hope already sees the same farm covered with crops. Let us not only concentrate on what we can see and touch and enjoy now: let us already inhabit the future, where all the good things that we have renounced today will bring us a greater joy tomorrow.
Second Sunday of Advent
“The word of God came to John (the Baptist) son of Zechariah, in the wilderness” (Lk 3:3)
The Church is a mother to all of us. She leads us by our hand through the liturgical seasons of the year. Our journey towards the coming of the Lord at Christmas reaches today the second Sunday of Advent. It is the Sunday of John the Baptist, the last of the prophets of the First Testament and, at the same time, he is the link with the New. The people of Israel at the time of Jesus were waiting for the Lord to visit them. This desire had been cultivate in their hearts by all the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, kings and prophets sent by God. We all experience the desire that something new would appear in our lives. Israel did not know the time for this liberation to begin. It is God that takes the initiative; he takes the first step and sends his word onto John. The Baptist could receive this gift because he had prepared his heart (life of prayer) and body (sobriety of life) for this coming, long before he started to prepare the people with his preaching and baptism. The initiative is always by God.
Advent is a time of movement already in the name itself. During this liturgical season nobody can sit still or remain static, but everyone has to move towards a destination that must already be known at the start. No one ventures on a journey without knowing the arrival. But for us who believe sometimes the opposite is true: we know the goal and the arrival, but often we fail the route. The season of advent is an opportunity that we have to adjust our trajectory and the pace of our going. The examination of conscience is a stage, a drink of water on this journey that already captures the soul.
The Four Advent Candles
It is a widespread tradition to place four candles on the altar during Advent. In some houses they are present also on the table during meals.
2nd week of Advent. We light, as a visible sign, the second candle to express symbolically that our heart burns as it is going to meet the Lord who comes and at the same time is consumed with love for him and our brothers and sisters throughout the world. To burn and to be consumed is imitating the incarnate God who, in his passion for humanity, did not hesitate to burn in death to give us a life in the fullness of love.
‘Let us pray’
- Lord, this candle is a sign of Advent. It is a light that illuminates the difficulties and decisions. It is fire that burns impurities, selfishness and pride.
- Just as this candle is consumed in the rite, sacrament of inner fire, likewise, when the celebration is over, we want to continue to burn on the streets of life with you, together with our brothers and sisters in the world.
First Reading (Baruch 5:1-9)
What Jerusalem represented for Baruch, today for us is the Eucharist. Jerusalem was the ideal city and the prospect of a community of free men and women: belonging to the Holy City gave a unique identity and also guaranteed access to the salvation of God. Our city is the Eucharist which gathers us inside the dynamic of his Word and nourishes us with the bread of life to give us the identity of «scattered, displaced», who have the world for their homeland and humanity for family.
It is the prospect of the second reading where Paul prays that the citizens of Philippi, who are immersed in the world, must be aware of guarding themselves from the mentality of this world: “This will help you to become pure and blameless, and prepare you for the Day of Christ, when you will reach the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us”.
Psalm 125: Inhabit the future
The Psalm describes the life of the farmer. He is faced by a difficult challenge when the season of for sowing comes: in his store there are but a few cups of rice left, the food is scarce. The natural desire is to cook that rice and eat it. But the farmer is a person of hope: he believes that by sowing those seeds in the field, each grain will produce a hundred times more, and his family will have food for the whole year. As we read Psalm 125 we can see what it describes with our own eyes: the sower goes to the farm in tears (it is difficult to detach himself from that seed); those tears become the water that irrigates the field and when harvest season reaches, there is a new light in his eyes and great joy in his heart. We too believe that whenever we plant the seed of God’s kingdom in the garden of our neighbor, it will bear fruit in our own garden. This is exactly the beauty of the virtue of Hope: it makes us see what is yet invisible: the farmer sees the seed that is going to be buries into the soil, and he will not be able to eat it, whilst the Person of Hope already sees the same farm covered with crops. Let us not only concentrate on what we can see and touch and enjoy now: let us already inhabit the future, where all the good things that we have renounced today will bring us a greater joy tomorrow.