December 8^th 2019. Second Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Matthew 3:1-12

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 3, 1-12

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea
and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel's hair
and had a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea,
and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves,
'We have Abraham as our father.'
For I tell you,
God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.
I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand.
He will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . During their sojourn of forty years in the desert, the people of the Israel learned that life was precarious and that they needed to place their trust in the Lord. When John the Baptist appears, it is in the desert and he is dressed in the manner of a pilgrim. He is challenging all of us to enter the desert, shed what we do not need and turn back to the Lord. What is the Advent of the Lord? It involves an axe and a fire coming into my life. There are many things in my life that must be shed. We must be ready to be pruned and to accept losses. Those who have major difficulties in discernment are those who are not willing to lose anything. The Lord is good and beautiful; therefore I must be ready to lose that which is not good and beautiful; I must be ready to shed that which is ambiguous in my life. We must be freed from the chaff that does not bear fruit, from branches that are stupid and useless. Advent is a time to praise God who wants to do something in my life that is good, beautiful and fruitful. Let us allow the Lord to do this. Our hearts must be ready to be freed from that which is useless. We cling to the chaff that leads nowhere. The Lord wishes constantly to purify us. The theme of purification is essential in the spiritual life. That which weighs us down must be discarded. Our Saviour wishes to draw us into a life that is simple, sober, agile and free; a life that cannot be lost. The Holy Spirit comes as fire and frees the Church from its delusions, wastes of time and deceptions. He frees Christians from that which is non-Christian and frees humanity from what is inhuman. We must ask the Lord to strike us in this wholesome way, even if it hurts. And it will hurt, because we are attached to small and useless things. John the Baptist comes, dressed as a pilgrim, to bring us all on pilgrimage, to bring us into the desert of purification, to bring us to the light to the kingdom of God.

John the Baptist calls us a brood of vipers, i.e., people who are born of the serpent. And it is true. Who else but the serpent has taught us that we can disregard the love of God and not have to suffer any negative consequences

Seeing many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism, John the Baptist told them: "Brood of vipers! Who made you believe you could escape the impending wrath?" What a character, John the Baptist! He addresses the religious leaders as being of the family of vipers, the most treacherous and poisonous snake. John tells them that they are of the viper breed, that is, born of a snake. What does he mean? He goes on: "Who made you believe you could escape the coming wrath?” What is this wrath and who is it that makes us think we can escape it? There are things that distance us from love and bring us closer to God’s wrath. There are acts that create disorder. In Scripture, the wrath of God is not a moment of divine nervousness, but a key to understanding what happens when good is rejected. When we reject the love and goodness of God, then reality becomes hostile towards us, as happens in the story of Adam and Eve of Genesis 3.

We have listened to the lies of the serpent and become deceptive and hypocritical. The Lord will take an axe to the root of the tree and cut away all that is foreign to salvation

In this story, the serpent himself told a lie which humanity believed: "You will not die at all!” (Gen 3: 4). We have learned not to fear sin, not to be afraid of the consequences of disordered acts. We have been taught that we can escape imminent wrath: lying is not a problem, not observing the rules is no big deal, wallowing in sensuality is ok.  We have been trained in the hypocritical art of compromise, of thinking that no bad consequences will come our way. But John the Baptist tells us that "the axe is placed at the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire". If only! If only this axe would come into our lives! It would tear away from us all that is not salvation, all that is foreign to love, incompatible with Heaven, alien to the good.

We have learned to get by. We present ourselves during Advent to John the Baptist with our heads sprinkled in ashes, but our pockets are full of disobedience and compromises. There is a saying in Italian, “When the feast day is over, the saint discovers that he has been tricked”. In other words, we celebrate these feasts, take advantage of them as an excuse to eat, drink and be merry, all the while paying lip-service to the saint in question, but when all is said and done we have just used that saint for our own selfish purposes. Advent has begun. When it is over, will it leave us exactly as it found us?  The readings tell us that something great and beautiful is coming, the one who "baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire", the one who puts the life of God in man! “Oh really?” we answer. “That’s interesting”. And then we return to our usual mediocrity. There is a great risk that this Advent will be of no use to us, that it will be the umpteenth pre-Christmas dinner liturgical act. Then Christmas will pass, and Lent, and Easter. the gift of the Spirit will come ... and we will always be the same half-Christians. I am not exaggerating. Read the words of John the Baptist: "He holds the shovel in his hand and will clean his threshing floor and gather his wheat in the barn, but he will burn the straw with an unquenchable fire." Let us ask for a grace: not to continue with this mediocrity anymore. Let us not be satisfied with this non-love we have inside. Let us cease being tortured by our ambiguity and compromises. A Psalm says: "Despise evil, you who love the Lord". May the Lord give us the gift of this “hatred” which is an interior ax: the desire to live well and to love, so that our hearts are purified.