20201206 PEACE WHEN WE INVITE THE LORD INTO OUR HEARTS
06 December, 2020, Sunday, 2nd Week of Advent
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Violet.
First reading |
Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11 © |
The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it
‘Console my people, console them’
says your God.
‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and call to her
that her time of service is ended,
that her sin is atoned for,
that she has received from the hand of the Lord
double punishment for all her crimes.’
A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness
a way for the Lord.
Make a straight highway for our God
across the desert.
Let every valley be filled in,
every mountain and hill be laid low.
Let every cliff become a plain,
and the ridges a valley;
then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed
and all mankind shall see it;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’
Go up on a high mountain,
joyful messenger to Zion.
Shout with a loud voice,
joyful messenger to Jerusalem.
Shout without fear,
say to the towns of Judah,
‘Here is your God.’
Here is the Lord coming with power,
his arm subduing all things to him.
The prize of his victory is with him,
his trophies all go before him.
He is like a shepherd feeding his flock,
gathering lambs in his arms,
holding them against his breast
and leading to their rest the mother ewes.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 84(85):9-14(Advent) © |
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
I will hear what the Lord God has to say,
a voice that speaks of peace,
peace for his people.
His help is near for those who fear him
and his glory will dwell in our land.
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
Mercy and faithfulness have met;
justice and peace have embraced.
Faithfulness shall spring from the earth
and justice look down from heaven.
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
The Lord will make us prosper
and our earth shall yield its fruit.
Justice shall march before him
and peace shall follow his steps.
Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.
Second reading | 2 Peter 3:8-14 © |
We are waiting for the new heavens and the new earth
There is one thing, my friends, that you must never forget: that with the Lord, ‘a day’ can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then with a roar the sky will vanish, the elements will catch fire and fall apart, the earth and all that it contains will be burnt up.
Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come, when the sky will dissolve in flames and the elements melt in the heat. What we are waiting for is what he promised: the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home. So then, my friends, while you are waiting, do your best to live lives without spot or stain so that he will find you at peace.
Gospel Acclamation | Lk3:4,6 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Prepare a way for the Lord,
make his paths straight,
and all mankind shall see the salvation of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Mark 1:1-8 © |
A voice cries in the wilderness: prepare a way for the Lord
The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah:
Look, I am going to send my messenger before you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice cries in the wilderness:
Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.
and so it was that John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judaea and all the people of Jerusalem made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John wore a garment of camel-skin, and he lived on locusts and wild honey. In the course of his preaching he said, ‘Someone is following me, someone who is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.’
PEACE WHEN WE INVITE THE LORD INTO OUR HEARTS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISAIAH 40:1-5,9-11; 2 PETER 3:8-14; MARK 1:1-8 ]
Are we feeling restless, like the Israelites when they were in captivity in Babylon? They had lost their homeland, their Temple and their kingdom. They were captives in a foreign land. They were there simply because they disobeyed the commandments of God and the voice of the prophets calling them to repentance from their sins of idolatry, social injustices, and empty worship. Their lives were without meaning and purpose. They were longing for true freedom again. Some of us might be feeling that way too. We have made mistakes and are suffering for them. We are living in regret. We are sad that we have hurt so many people, especially our spouse and children because of our foolishness and selfishness.
If we are feeling this way, God wants us to know that He is love and mercy. That is why the responsorial psalm says, “Mercy and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have embraced. Faithfulness shall spring from the earth and justice look down from heaven.” The justice of God is His mercy. There is no other justice that God knows but to be merciful. He is not only merciful but also faithful to us. As the psalmist tells us, God wants to speak to us of peace. Indeed, like the psalmist, we can be confident that “his help is near for those who fear him and his glory will dwell in our land.”
The prophet Isaiah too wants us to know that God is coming to give us a new lease of life. “Console my people, console them, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes.” When we are punished for our sins, let us never forget that it is not because God desires to see us suffer but because He wants to save us from greater woes. Sometimes there is no other way to wake a person up except to break his ego and pride, humble him so that he knows that he is not god after all. Until then, he would not listen or be docile to the Word of God or to His prophets.
St Peter says that His long absence from our hearts is His patience with us. If He could wait two thousand years to prepare His people to receive the Messiah, and another two thousand years for us to accept His Son, then certainly He can wait for us to change and repent. That is why St Peter said, “you must never forget: that with the Lord, ‘a day’ can mean a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not being slow to carry out his promises, as anybody else might be called slow; but he is being patient with you all, wanting nobody to be lost and everybody to be brought to change his ways.” Indeed, if God allows us to suffer the consequences of our sins, it is because He is waiting for us to repent. God does not want to shortchange us by removing our sufferings. He wants us to grow up and come to know His love and our need to grow. When that happens, we become more aware of His faithful love and joy.
Ironically, it is when we feel most empty that God is nearest to us. In fact, God is so deep in our hearts and yet we do not feel His presence because we have numbed ourselves. If we feel this sense of emptiness, it is a great blessing from the Lord. In that purposelessness, the Lord is actually trying to speak to us. As in the case of the Israelites and that of John the Baptist, it is in the wilderness of our hearts that God speaks to us. For only in the desert of life, when we find that the Lord is far from us, that we begin to feel His absence. For when we are alone, the voice of God speaks loudest. There are some people who are afraid of silence, of being alone. They always want company and to be involved in activities to kill the voice of God in them. They do not want to face their selves. Yet, in their activities, deep within them, they feel empty and unfulfilled.
How, then, can we come to terms with ourselves and learn from our mistakes? The prophet Isaiah said, “Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.” There is no way to listen to the voice of God so long as we are embroiled in quarrelling, infighting, raging jealousy and resentment, competition for power, glory and recognition, or dulled our senses with food, drinks and carousing. If we want to recover our purpose and direction in life, the Lord invites us to go into the desert for a while to think through our lives, what we had done, what could have been done, what else is to be done.
Perhaps the mountain in our lives is our pride. We are suffering from a broken relationship because we are too proud to ask for forgiveness. Perhaps, our relationships are wrong and inappropriate, hence the guilt in our lives, especially when we are living in sin. The valley in our lives could be due to the fact that we suffer from low self-esteem and we have become resentful or jealous of our colleagues and those who seem to be fairing much better than us. And even when we are suffering from financial difficulties, some of us are living beyond our means, borrowing money from others in order to splurge on ourselves and not for the essential needs of the family. Maybe, we are walking a crooked road because of dishonesty in our work, like cheating on the company. Most of all, many of us have no time for God. If we are in this situation, certainly we cannot expect to find our hearts at rest.
Consequently, the gospel message of today is repentance. We must return to God and receive forgiveness. We must return to God so that we will find Him within and without us again. In the words of John the Baptist, it is to be filled with the Spirit of Christ. Yes, John the Baptist tells us that we need to live out our baptismal life once again. We need to die to ourselves so that we are ready to welcome Christ who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that will dwell in us and give us the presence and love of God. Only with the Spirit of Christ in us can we find peace and find ourselves. We must come home, the home of righteousness which is the home of the Father, the love of God present in us.
To prepare for the Lord simply means, as St Peter tells us, to do our best to “live lives without spot or stain” so that God will find us at peace. In other words, when we live a life of integrity, of love and service, of honesty and justice, of peace and harmony, then we will find ourselves experiencing the presence of God in us. And this is what baptism in the Holy Spirit is all about, namely, to live the life of Christ by sharing in His spirit. We all desire to live such a life because only this kind of life is truly worth living. By living holy and saintly lives, we counter evil positively by dissolving and melting them through the power of love. Indeed, there is no greater way to burn up the evils or fill up the emptiness in us than by proactively doing good or putting meaning into whatever we do.
We must welcome the Lord back into our lives. This is what the Prophet is saying. “The Lord is coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him. He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.” Truly, when God comes into our lives, then we will be at peace again. We will find our rest and ourselves. If our lives are empty and confused, it is because we do not have the presence of God in us. We live our lives like orphans and abandoned children.
Hence, St Peter urges us to focus on what truly lasts. “Since everything is coming to an end like this, you should be living holy and saintly lives while you wait and long for the Day of God to come.” Yes, we must seek for the real things in life. What is this real thing if not “the new heavens and new earth, the place where righteousness will be at home?” It is the fruits of love, peace and joy; it is justice, right relationship and love that ultimately matter. We are called to treasure relationships and friendships. Love is what counts in the end. We are called to learn how to love. Instead of winning we are invited to help others to win. Instead of making money for ourselves, we should be thinking of how to help the poor to make some money for themselves. Instead of making a name for ourselves, we should be thinking of helping others without seeking credit except for the glory of God. In this way, we will always at peace.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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