Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on the Second Sunday of Advent, 4 December 2022

My brothers and sisters, today we celebrate the second Sunday of Advent.  Together we move forward to the next level of our preparation for the coming of the Lord. The gospel passage we just heard from St Matthew presents to us St. John the Baptist shouting from the desert and calling upon us to prepare well the way of the Lord. For, the Lord is indeed coming soon and when that day comes, it will surely be the happiest day of our lives for it will be the day of our salvation. 

The situation at that time when John the Baptist began his preaching was no different from ours. Many people at that time were suffering mostly because of the Roman forces that occupied their land and imposed heavy taxes on them. And those Jews who tried to resist the foreign government were imprisoned, executed and killed. Moreover, even the Jewish religious laws were rigorously strict and those who broke any of those laws were also punished either with expulsion from the community or death by stoning.  Sad to say, from all these pressures those who suffered the most were the poor, the sick, and the persons with disability.  Hence, people at that time really felt the need of a Savior to redeem them from all these evils and give them back the freedom and happiness they deserved and longed for.

It was therefore in this context that John the Baptist, moved by the Spirit, came out publicly to proclaim a message of hope and salvation.  He felt and realized that the people should be ready for the long awaited Messiah was coming soon. For him, being a Jew especially being part of God’s chosen people was not enough to be saved when the Redeemer comes. Everyone should repent from their sins and be cleansed inwardly by undergoing baptism. All should humbly acknowledge their sinfulness and open their hearts to meet their divine Savior.

Today John the Baptist addresses the same words to us. He invites us all to leave the comfort of our private lives and to journey together as a community of disciples towards the place where the Lord is coming to meet us.  More concretely he calls us to rewire our minds and reformat our hearts. He wants us to undergo a cleansing ritual that washes away our sins and to shift to a lifestyle that is much simpler but more perfectly conformed to God’s will.

He tells us that we have been down and in a bad shape because of our own wrong choices and decisions. And we have been burdened and stressed by problems mostly caused by our own selfish and prideful attitudes, by our insatiable craving for pleasure and power, by too many worldly attachments. It is high time that we submit ourselves to the “Coach” and Pastor of our souls and allow the Lord to reconfigure our lives according to his will and wonderful plan.

The prophet Isaiah, in the first reading today, dreamed of that day when this world will be totally transformed and we as one Church shall win the final victory against all evil! What did he see in his vision of a new world?  He said “The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together with a little child to guide them; the lion shall eat hay like the ox; the baby shall play by the cobra’s den. There shall be no harm or ruin on my holy mountain…” In other words, he saw a vision of a world in perfect harmony.

Also St Paul in the second reading greatly wished and prayed for a similar intention. He wrote in his letter to the Romans: “May we live in perfect harmony with one another according to the spirit of Christ Jesus.”

Just like the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul, we too have the same wish and dream of a world in perfect harmony.  But we cannot realize this dream if we insist always on our own selfish desires, plans and obsessions without considering the well-being of others and the greater good of the much larger community where we belong. We cannot force God to change this world if we ourselves choose to remain unchanged. Change can take place only if it begins with ourselves, only when we make a resolute decision to reform our lives… and be the change we want to see in others.

Brothers and sisters Advent is not simply a time of passively waiting for the Savior to come. On the contrary it calls us to awake from our slumber, prepare ourselves spiritually and be ready to welcome the Lord.  Hence, at this point I’m glad to present to you three groups of people who exemplify what real Advent is all about as they did not remain passively waiting for the Savior to come two thousand years ago but rather got up from the comfort of their homes and palaces and journeyed together towards the place where the Messiah was to be born.  The first group was a couple named Joseph and Mary who made the long journey together from their home in Nazareth to the City of David, through them the Savior of the world was born.  The second group was the poor shepherds who, upon hearing a choir of angels singing, journeyed together toward the manger where Christ was born.  And the third group was the Magi who, guided by a bright star, travelled together from the east towards the birthplace of the new born King of the Jews. 

Just like St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and just like the shepherds and the Magi, we Christians are called to make the journey together as a Church not only towards the place where Jesus is to be born this Christmas, but above all towards the promised land called heaven, our true home and final destination at the end of time. Let us do this by taking time out of our busy schedule to make a good confession.  Let us spend some prayerful ME time and consider how our lives can be conformed more to God’s will and plan, how we can show more respect to authority, be more patient when we suffer, and be more sensitive to the needs and feeling of others, and be more charitable to the poor, the sick and the suffering. And more importantly on top of all these let us allow Jesus to configure us to his image and likeness through the Holy Communion we will receive, until our hearts become exactly like his own. This I believe is the perfect way of preparing for Christmas.  Certainly when Jesus comes and finds us seriously occupied with this endeavour we will together win the golden prize of redemption that we have been longing for. GiGsss!

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