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1.Isaiah
11:1-10
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2.
Romans15:4-9
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Gospel:
Matthew 3:1-12
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" Change your
course, reform life"
There is this story
about three devils who were arguing over the best way to destroy the souls of
people in the world.
The first demon
says:" Let's tell all the Christians that the Bible is all fable."
No, that will not do," the second devil said: " Let me go and I will
tell them that there is no heaven or hell. Take away the fear of punishment and
the man will not believe."
The third demon says,
"There is one better way. Tell the Christians that there is God, that the
Bible is inspired, that the Bible is true, that there is heaven and hell, Yes,
but I will tell them there is NO HURRY; there is always a tomorrow." But
then all is too late. At the end the devils agreed and they sent him.
You can ask yourself
this question that why to wait until a sickness strikes before you get rid of
some bad habits like excessive smoking or drinking, cursing or gossiping, or
watching TV too much?
Advent is an opportune
time to welcome Christ into our lives by bearing fruits of good deeds.
"Every tree that is not fruitful," John the Baptist warns, "
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
The Second Sunday of
Advent brings us the person of John the Baptist, the preacher who was listened
to people of time because he had been a true witness. It is more interesting to
know that the Catholic Church has given John a special place in our Advent
Liturgy. If advent is about preparation for Christ's coming, then that
preparation can be had through reflection on the person and brand of witnessing
of John the Baptist.
Let us have a quick
glance on the Matthaean passage and examine the person and witness of John the
Baptist.
In the first place John
is depicted in the gospel as a man of the desert. The first line of the gospel
says that John was" preaching in the desert of Judea...." Now what should be our concern with a desert?
A desert like a mountain is a place where one can commune himself with God. It
is a privileged place for spiritual leaders, like John. We are being challenged
that our world today with all circumstances has made us very busy people. What
is making us to be very busy people? We become very busy people with the
advancement in technology such as using social media networks like
facebook, whatsapp, twiter etc therefore, by investing much of our energies and attentions
to such social network medias we finally find that God has no room in our
lives. Such situations calls us to withdraw to a " desert" to a place
where we can commune ourselves with God.
Second, John is the man
of simplicity. His witnessing can be revealed in the simplicity of clothing
that he wears( camel's hair) and in the food that he eats( locust and honey).
John does not cloth himself in the leaders of his day. Just as his robes are
simple so do his food. In our world
today what aspect can be compared to this aspect attributed to John? In our
world characterized consumerism and commercialism, there is never any room for
simplicity. At times we are obsessed with the latest fashion, latest gadgets and
latest products. Buying and possessing things would make us happy for a while
but in the end we realize that these things never gives us the satisfaction
that we long for. A simple life style makes it easier for God to enter into our
lives.
Third, John is the man
of truth. The prevailing truth of his time: conversion and repentance as
necessary requirements for entering God's kingdom. His message is exceedingly
radical, " Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" John is
fearless in proclaiming this truth. This is clearly verified when the Pharisees
and Sadducees came to him, he told them fearlessly, " You brood of vipers!....... Produce good fruit as evidence of your
repentance!" On our part sometimes we may find it difficult to follow
John's footsteps because we have
tendency to please people, and to hurt them is a last thing we would
ever do, by doing this we allow people to perpetuate their sinfulness and
consequently, the road to conversion has never been possible.
We are challenged by
the fact that the problem of repentance lies on people who are callous. The
late John Paul II saw people in the modern world the loss of sense of sin while
Pope Benedict XIV describes this as the loss of consciousness of sin. The observation
of these two popes is undeniably true.
We need to make a U
turn towards the basics of Christianity. This situation calls us to go back to
that olden piety which suggests that a worthy reception of the sacrament of
Eucharist demands a state of grace. Perhaps, the important thing that we would
do is to remove our callousness. If there is something on our part to admire
from people during john's time it would be their ability to listen and to obey.
With a simple preaching of John( "Repent!"), the people instantly
responded. On our days this is something that we lack. How many of us have
cared to heed the call to conversion? I just wonder how many times should a
priest say, " Repent" before people could admit that they have sinned
and appreciate the sacrament of reconciliation.
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