Fr. Louis Brioni s.x.
A short reflection on the Gospel of the Second Sunday of Advent 2023, year B,
Only God, with all His creativity, could have invented John the Baptist to prepare the entrance of His Son in our human history! He certainly made him a unique and different guy, a prophet from the very womb of his mother Elisabeth. And, miracle of miracles, at the age of only six months (!), He made John meet Jesus, conceived just a few days before in Nazareth, to leap with joy at the presence of the Saviour, who would re-create the world in obedience and love! Yes, a prophet John fully became, placing himself at the total will of the One who had truly sanctified him from his conception.
That’s why Saint Mark begins the writing of his Gospel by telling us that John was at the river Jordan, dressed with camel skin and eating locusts and honey, proclaiming that “One mightier than I would come and … baptize with the Holy Spirit. ”He needed no political power to do so but God’s word, lived and proclaimed with all his strength. We can easily imaging John shouting in the desert, challenging people to repent, to clear their lives of all injustices and sins, to turn to God in all their ways. His message was so needed by the many then that crowds flocked to the Jordan, where John was preaching, to repent and be baptized by him.
During this time of Advent, of Jesus’ historical coming on earth, we too want to listen to the message of John and sincerely decide to repent, by faithfully turning our hearts to God’s will. We desire Jesus to come to us, to be again our Emmanuel, to receive Him as our necessary communion of life. We want Him badly and urgently, now.
These days we also join all the people of the Holy Land in their tragedy of war, in the killing of many innocents, in the enormous ruins of destruction, and, above all, in the thirst for blood and revenge by all fighting parties. We pray John the Baptist to keep on giving us and them and the whole world his Jesus of love and peace, his Jesus as the universal brother and Saviour. May John help each one of us to prepare our 2023 Christmas well by changing our hearts from sin to grace, from darkness to light, from arrogance to the meekness of love. We need to become His brothers and sisters 365 days a year!
“Lord Jesus, in spite of all our sins and failures, do not delay your arrival to me and to the whole world. Come to be with us once more, with a Christmas celebration that will change our life for good and forever. Amen.
A short reflection on the Gospel of the Second Sunday of Advent 2023, year B,
Only God, with all His creativity, could have invented John the Baptist to prepare the entrance of His Son in our human history! He certainly made him a unique and different guy, a prophet from the very womb of his mother Elisabeth. And, miracle of miracles, at the age of only six months (!), He made John meet Jesus, conceived just a few days before in Nazareth, to leap with joy at the presence of the Saviour, who would re-create the world in obedience and love! Yes, a prophet John fully became, placing himself at the total will of the One who had truly sanctified him from his conception.
That’s why Saint Mark begins the writing of his Gospel by telling us that John was at the river Jordan, dressed with camel skin and eating locusts and honey, proclaiming that “One mightier than I would come and … baptize with the Holy Spirit. ”He needed no political power to do so but God’s word, lived and proclaimed with all his strength. We can easily imaging John shouting in the desert, challenging people to repent, to clear their lives of all injustices and sins, to turn to God in all their ways. His message was so needed by the many then that crowds flocked to the Jordan, where John was preaching, to repent and be baptized by him.
During this time of Advent, of Jesus’ historical coming on earth, we too want to listen to the message of John and sincerely decide to repent, by faithfully turning our hearts to God’s will. We desire Jesus to come to us, to be again our Emmanuel, to receive Him as our necessary communion of life. We want Him badly and urgently, now.
These days we also join all the people of the Holy Land in their tragedy of war, in the killing of many innocents, in the enormous ruins of destruction, and, above all, in the thirst for blood and revenge by all fighting parties. We pray John the Baptist to keep on giving us and them and the whole world his Jesus of love and peace, his Jesus as the universal brother and Saviour. May John help each one of us to prepare our 2023 Christmas well by changing our hearts from sin to grace, from darkness to light, from arrogance to the meekness of love. We need to become His brothers and sisters 365 days a year!
“Lord Jesus, in spite of all our sins and failures, do not delay your arrival to me and to the whole world. Come to be with us once more, with a Christmas celebration that will change our life for good and forever. Amen.