2nd Sunday of Advent Cycle A
11/13/2016
December 4, 2016
On this second Sunday of Advent we continue to wait and to watch for the Lord every single day.
In spite of what we may be going through at times, we continue to wait and watch for the Lord.
God promised the human race in the past, and us again now, his great love and mercy.
Wait and watch.
Some 700 years before Christ, Isaiah foretold the coming of the Messiah for all people. He preached to a people that had given up on God, and turned to political powers for their god for help.
He comes even in all the difficult times.
Wait and watch.
He will come from the stump that remained after the tree was cut down.
After our hopes seem shattered. In what seems impossible... He comes.
Are we willing to...Wait and watch.
St. Paul writes his letter to a Roman community who at times were also wavering.
He points out the importance of listening to God's Word and allowing it to be their guide. He points out that God's great love and mercy for the human race, comes generation after generation. God's answer to the human race is always compassion and mercy and the promise that the Messiah will come. Paul tells this community that they too must show that same mercy and compassion to all.
That same message is for each of us today.
In the Gospel we hear the story of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness.
We know that John was a strange character wearing a garment of camel hair and a little leather belt around his waist and his food was locusts and wild honey.
It was in the wilderness where he preached and he was a strange character who was preaching.
How could the coming of the Messiah be preached by such a strange character and in such a uncomfortable place?
Who would listen?
The Pharisees and the Scribes had great difficulty in looking at their own sinfulness. They would not look at themselves because they truly believe that they did not sin. They would not go near dirty sinners.
Often it's the unexpected situation that is ugly and difficult, or the person that we encounter that is unexpected and seems in someway to be ugly or difficult that allows us to look deeply at ourselves so we can see our sins, our lack of patience, compassion or charity.
Could it be the presence of the Lord helping us to see ourselves?
To find the Lord, we need to see our own weaknesses and then we will discover His great love, mercy, and forgiveness.
If we can't look at our own sinfulness or believe that we really don't sin very big or very much, then we really have no need for a loving and merciful God full of compassion and forgiveness.
So...
Wait and Watch
Click here to listen to my homily given in 2010