December 27th 2020.  FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

GOSPEL Luke 2:22-40

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

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Luke 2:22-40

When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord — observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord — and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised;

because my eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared for all the nations to see,

a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected — and a sword will pierce your own soul too — so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . In Hebrew culture, there were various rituals by which the people consecrated the important moments of their lives to God. The point of these rituals was that they expressed the belief that God was the master of life. He gave the gift of children so it made perfect sense that the first-born child must be entrusted back to him. How often we seek to be the masters of our own lives! And when we do, we end up building concentration camps, or enacting laws that allow us to select which lives to keep and which to discard. We test the child within the womb and if we don’t like the result of the analysis, we act like God and become selectors of who is to live and who is to die. In the feast of the Presentation, Mary humbly consecrates her child to God. And, incredibly, God entrusts him back to us! As the Gospel tells us, this act of presentation is the source of a conflict in the world, the fall and rising of many. We are confronted with the choice to consecrate our lives to God, or to live in a self-referential way, depending on purely human resources. But human resources cannot break down the walls of nothingness that surround us! Only Jesus can. God brings life where it seems impossible, as in the infertility of Abraham and Sarah recounted in the first reading. This Christmas Season, let us entrust our lives to the child born in a stable who reaches down from the depths to entrust his life to us!

Jesus was born among the animals because he wanted to reach down to our very depths to lift us up to him

We approach the feast of the Holy Family in the context of the wave of joy that comes during the celebration of the Christmas season. The birth of Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem is the key for interpreting the readings of Sunday's feast. Why is it so important and urgent that the Son of God himself should become man and be born with a flesh like ours? Why couldn't God just have given us a clear list of instructions by which to live? Why couldn't we just make a greater effort to behave better? None of this was enough for God, and that is why Christmas is such a joyful time. God comes himself to live among us and raise us up. He initiates the great adventure of the union between humanity and the divinity. Immanuel - "God with us" - makes himself the least of humanity. In fact he is born in a stable among animals because there is no room for him in human society. God reaches down to the very place where mankind has dehumanised itself in order to lift it up to God. It is this union with God that makes Christmas so joyful. Life is no longer focussed on the purely biological, on the trivial issues that drive us to despair. The union of God and humanity lifts our gaze to higher things, to the wonderful dignity that we possess, and to our supernatural vocation on account of the fact that the image of God has been imprinted on us.

The first reading tells how God blesses us by doing extraordinary things, by giving life where none seems possible

These themes become concrete in the holy family. The first reading from Sunday tells how Abraham has arrived at the edge of desperation. He is old and still has no heir. But God makes him realize that what is at going on here is something of global significance, a blessing that is unfolding and that has no limits. Then the reading skips on a few chapters and we are told that Sarah in her old age conceives a child. Here, we are confronted with the great, the extraordinary, the unexpected. We cannot survive without the extraordinary! Why did the Son of God become incarnate? Because we need something exceptional that only he can give! We need to see the sterile womb becoming capable of generating life, the old age of Abraham transformed into something fertile. 

The Presentation is about consecrating life to God. When we try to be the masters of our own lives, we end up destroying the unborn, constructing concentration camps, and creating horrific situations in the world. Life belongs to God and must be entrusted to him. At the same time, God entrust his only son to us.

In this light we consider the Gospel reading, which this year describes the presentation in the Temple of Jesus. The days of purification have ended and it is time to present the first-born to the Lord. This theme is very important in the Old Testament. Life is a gift from God and the first born must be entrusted to the Lord. Rites of purification in the Hebrew tradition were rites that involved human cycles of birth, life and death. There was no sense of "dirtiness" in these rites. Instead they were held sacred because they were ways of consecrating life to God. Life was not something that we were to manage by ourselves. When we seek to manage life by ourselves, we end up constructing concentration camps. When we take it upon ourselves to decide the parameters of life, then we engage in a selection of the species, which is exactly what we are doing now. Our laws permit us to make decisions, following medical analyses, as to whether particular children are suitable for life or not. If we don't like what we see, we are free to discard the life freely. We have become the selectors of who lives or dies. When humanity grants itself the authority to manage the issues of life, we do things that are inhuman and intolerable. In the Gospel, by contrast we are confronted with a mother who humbly consecrates her child to God. But there is also a more universal dimension to the story. The mother is entrusting her child to God, whilst God at the same time is giving his son to all of humanity. 

The Presentation of Jesus causes a conflict in the world. Salvation is placed before us. Indeed, the son of God is entrusted to us. We too must consecrate ourselves to him. If we do not, then we will end up living lives that are incomplete and not even human. God is the source of real life. Without him we cannot penetrate the wall of nothingness that surrounds us.

During this Presentation scene we hear beautiful and illuminating prophecies. Jesus is to be a light for all nations and the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. But at the same time, a sword will pierce the soul of Mary; the child will cause many to rise and fall. What is the source of this conflict? We will rise from dust to glory, seeing that glory has descended to the dust in Christ Jesus. But to rise from the dust it is essential that we entrust ourselves to this child who is placed before us. Our families are often precarious places, heading for shipwreck. And they are in this terrible state because they are self-referential, based purely on human resources. But human logic will not overcome the wall of nothingness that surrounds us. In order to truly discover who we are, we must penetrate this wall of nothingness, and it is only with the Lord Jesus that we can accomplish this. In order to overcome the challenges that confront the family, we must consign ourselves to Jesus, purify ourselves so that our hearts are penetrated by the sword that rids us of what is not ours. We do not come to salvation on a wing, making our way with things that are merely human. We must give ourselves over to the Lord. The Lord gives himself to us so that we might give ourselves to him. His was born in the stable of Bethlehem was so that we might start to be reborn in him, to make the essential leap away from ourselves and towards him. The presentation in the temple manifests this combat in which we must engage in order to make the leap. We belong to God. If we do not consecrate our lives to God then our lives are not even human. They are unsatisfying and incomplete. In God everything becomes holy and wonderful. But God cannot force us to give ourselves to him; we must do it ourselves just as Mary did when she consecrated her only son.

We wish a peaceful season of Christmas to everyone and a happy celebration of the incarnation of Our Lord.

December 20th 2020. Fourth Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Luke 1:26-38

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

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Luke 1:26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’

She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God’

‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . In the first reading on Sunday, David has a noble plan to build God a house. But God tells him that it is he who will build David a house! And the Lord says the same thing to each one of us: it is He who begins and brings to fruition all the various projects in our lives. This is a perspective that is difficult for us to accept, because it involves admitting that we are not the centre of the world! It is not we who construct God, but God who constructs us. No matter how good or noble our ideas might be, they remain our ideas. It is essential that we seek to discern the initiatives that the Lord is making in our lives. Our task is to welcome the action of God in our existence, not make our own confused plans and ask God then to bless them! The Gospel is the story of the Annunciation, and here we see that it is a virgin who conceives the life of God. The life of God is always conceived virginally! Only God can bring salvation, and we allow ourselves to be saved by entering into synergy with him. It is not a question of power, coherence or strength, but, rather, welcoming his action in our life. Let all of us seek to discern the initiative of God in our lives and welcome it virginally. Virginity is not simply a physical category. It concerns the existential state of our relationship with God, of allowing him to be the origin of everything and having an attitude of openness and welcome towards what he is doing.  The life of God can only come from Him. It cannot be produced by us. St Vincent de Paul said that the works of God come to fruition by themselves, not by virtue of our efforts. An over-emphasis on the importance of our efforts is, in fact, Pelagianism. God’s work in us is always virginal. It does not come from human seed. We must constantly discern if our actions come from ourselves, from false inspiration, or from God’s initiative. This Christmas may we open ourselves to God’s action, the Holy Spirit working in us, and not be slaves to our own volitions.

In the first reading David has a desire to build a house for God. But the Lord replies, “It is I who will build a house for you”. God says the same thing to each one of us. It is he, and only he, who can give us life. The things we build will come to nothing if they do not originate in the Lord

This Sunday’s Gospel is the celebrated passage of the Annunciation, often commented upon in the past from this microphone. This time our perspective on the text will be from the point of view of the first reading. There are two parts in the passage of the Annunciation: the first concerns the disturbing effect the announcement had on Mary, whilst the second is the Angel’s response to her question, “How will this come about?” In response to Mary’s first reaction, the angel says, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David’. This recalls the prophecy from Samuel 7 that appears in the first reading on Sunday. At this point in the career of King David, he has established a “house” for himself in the sense that he is secure and has conquered all his enemies. In response, generosity springs up in the heart of David. He knows that he has arrived at this point only because of the great benevolence and aid shown to him by the Lord. He says to himself, “How can it be that I live in a fine house whilst the Ark of God is kept in a tent? Why should the Lord be in a more precarious situation than me?” Nathan the prophet hears these words of David and is impressed. “That is a noble desire”, he tells the king. “Go ahead and do it and the Lord will be with you”. That night, however, Nathan receives a word form God to relate to David. “You, David, intend to build a house for me? It is I who will construct a house for you? Look at the sort of relationship we have! I have taken you from the pastures and been with you everywhere you have gone. I have destroyed your enemies but yet I am only at the beginning. I will make your name great among the powerful on earth. It is I who will construct a house for you!” The Lord says this to David but also says it to each one of us.

No matter how beautiful our plans are, only the plans of the Lord can bring salvation. Only he can cross the abyss between us and God.

What is the Annunciation, after all? We are at the threshold of Christmas and about to celebrate the encounter between human flesh and the divinity of God, this incredible encounter which we find in the body of Christ, in this child who is the bearer of heaven upon the earth, he who is glory in the highest heaven and becomes peace for people on earth. Where does all of this great story begin? David has a noble plan, but no matter how beautiful and noble our plans are, they cannot cross the abyss between us and God. Only the Lord himself can cross that chasm. Salvation, redemption from our sins, comes from God, it does not come from us. Our task is to welcome it, and we find all of this in the story of the young girl who is a virgin and who will conceive virginally.

The life of God can only be conceived virginally. In other words, it must begin from him and our job is simply to welcome it

Let us pay attention to this fact: the life of God can only be conceived virginally, it is not born from human seed. What does this mean? When we pursue our confused inspirations, or even those inspirations that are less confused, we ought to ask, “Where does this spring from?” Very often these projects arise from our impulses, even from impulses that are good, like that of David. Nathan praised David for his great idea, but our great ideas remain our own ideas. What is truly beautiful is born from the initiative of God. When two young people are trying to discern if they should get married, they need to discern if there is something at the root of their relationship which is a gift from God. When a young man is trying to see if he ought to dedicate his life to God, he ought to discern if this plan originated in some need of his. If the vocation springs from human initiative then it means that it has human DNA from the beginning, but if a person wants to do something truly beautiful then it needs to spring from God. In fact, it is the Lord who needs to be the initiator of this thing and it is we who merely welcome it. New life is welcomed, not generated! No-one has ascended to Heaven, only the Son of Man who has come down from Heaven. It is God who opens Heaven!

God is not a personal chaplain to be summoned whenever we want his aid to complete a project of ours. What we need to do is discern the initiative of God in our lives and welcome it. Virginity is not simply an ethical or physical category. It regards our existential relationship with God

Christmas is pure gift, a gift to be welcomed, not something that comes about as a result of our initiative, no matter how good and presentable our initiative might be. When our initiative is the result of grace, or of a work that the Lord has done, then it can be beautiful and fecund. But when our course of action arises from our own flesh, then we really need to be asking ourselves, “Where did this come from?” In what way is Jesus Christ born? Jesus is born of the generosity of God. How often we try to turn God into our own personal chaplain. “Come here, Lord”, we say, “and bless this thing. Throw some holy water on it. This is my plan and you need to help me to bring it to fruition”. No, Christmas is the surprising initiative of God. This new life is born from a virgin. She is the good earth that allow this healthy seed to be born, free from weeds, free from chaos, the authentic seed of God. Let us seek to recognize the works of God in our lives, his eruptions into our existence, his initiatives in our regard. Virginity is not an ethical category, nor a simply physical category. It is an existential category that regards our relationship with God. With God, things are lived virginally. It is he who must take the initiative. We cannot produce His life on our own.

December 13th 2020. Third Sunday of Advent – Gaudete Sunday

GOSPEL: John 1:6-8, 19-28

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

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: John 1:6-8, 19-28

A man named John was sent from God.

He came for testimony, to testify to the light,

so that all might believe through him.

He was not the light,

but came to testify to the light.

And this is the testimony of John.

When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests

and Levites to him

to ask him, "Who are you?"

He admitted and did not deny it,

but admitted, "I am not the Christ."

So they asked him,

"What are you then? Are you Elijah?"

And he said, "I am not."

"Are you the Prophet?"

He answered, "No."

So they said to him,

"Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us?

What do you have to say for yourself?"

He said:

"I am the voice of one crying out in the desert,

'make straight the way of the Lord,'"

as Isaiah the prophet said."

Some Pharisees were also sent.

They asked him,

"Why then do you baptize

if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?"

John answered them,

"I baptize with water;

but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,

the one who is coming after me,

whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie."

This happened in Bethany across the Jordan,

where John was baptizing.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . This is Gaudete Sunday and we are invited to rejoice at the Lord’s immanent coming. The first reading speaks of the advent of a great liberator. In the Gospel, the figure of John the Baptist is presented to us. A central theme is the identity of John the Baptist. Why is so much attention devoted to discovering who he is? John’s own replies only reveal who he is not! It is very interesting that the person who is placed before us on Gaudete Sunday is someone who puts himself to the side, out of the limelight. This is the key to joy – to stop being slaves to ourselves, to our own identity, to our own role, our own importance! Freedom from our own ego is the real source of peace. In order for Christ to come into the world, it was necessary that someone would appear like John the Baptist who knew how to put himself into second place. What peace we obtain by not putting ourselves and our ego in the centre of everything! A good father seeks to no longer be necessary, to raise his child so well that they no longer need him. Similarly, a good priest knows how to step aside and delegate to others. A couple must be free of their own egos, giving each other reciprocal space so that Christ can live in that relationship. In everything I do, in my work or home situation, I can prepare the way for Christ. If I spend my days affirming myself, then my life is lived in vain. But my life is blessed if I am a route by which Christ can enter the lives of others. A good father or mother is someone who makes present to their children the love of God the Father, the tenderness and providence of God. If I remain fixated with own self-realisation then my life is mediocre. But if I can be a way in which Christ can enter into the lives of others, if I permit the voice of Another to speak through me, then my life will be full of love, discernment, welcome and space for others. This is what brings us to fulfilment: love, not the search for self-realisation.

John the Baptist stands at the Jordan, at the threshold to the Promised Land. He invites us to prepare ourselves for our entry into something wonderful, the arrival of the Lord

The third Sunday of Advent is always Gaudete Sunday, the Sunday of Joy. As we have said on other occasions, the penitential time of Advent is always tempered by the invitation to rejoice in this Sunday’s liturgy. Lent is tempered in a similar by Laetare Sunday. The fundamental attitude of the church is not sadness but joy. Someone is coming and his arrival will be beautiful and marvellous. Let us try to understand the unity of the first reading and the Gospel by considering, firstly, the last line of the Gospel. Earlier in this passage from John’s Gospel, we hear of the appearance of a man sent by God whose name was John. This man came as a witness to the light. The end of the passage gives us information which seems to be secondary. “This took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.” Here we have a fairly precise indication of the place where John was exercising his ministry, though the location was never identified until after the state of Israel came into being in 1947. After the political situation has stabilized, archaeologists discovered this settlement of Bethany across the Jordan. So it is a historical place, even though its existence was only documented by this mention in John’s Gospel. The location of this place across the Jordan is highly significant. John the Baptist is being presented as a type of Joshua. To cross the Jordan, for the people of Israel, meant to enter the Promised Land. It signified to enter into a new and beautiful state of affairs. John the Baptist stands there on the threshold inviting people to enter into something new and wonderful. The first reading speaks of one who has been anointed and brings good news to the poor, binding up the broken hearted and proclaiming liberty to captives and the beginning of a year of the Lord’s favour. The light is on its way! John is not the light, but the true light is on its way into the world.

John tells us that there is one among us that we do not recognize. God is working among us in ways that are perceptible only to the eyes of faith

John is interrogated as regards his identity. His preaching has had such a positive reaction that people begin to recognize him as an authentic prophet whose words carry weight. “Who are you?” they ask. “I am not the Christ”, he replies. “Well, who are you then?” they want to know. “Why are you doing these things? Those in power want to know your identity.” “I am only the beginning”, John tells them. “After me will come one who is much greater. I am a voice crying in the desert. In the midst of you is one that you do not recognize, one who will bring the promises to fulfilment”. In the midst of our lives there is someone that we do no know. God is working among us in ways that are not immediately perceptible.

John the Baptist invites us to see the action of God in everything that will happen to us. The Lord is coming into our lives and every future event is a potential encounter with him, the unfolding of our story of salvation

John the Baptist announces this work of God which is ongoing in our lives. Padre Pio used to say, “Entrust your future to Providence”. How important it is to abandon the future to the coming of the Lord. When I think of my future I must recognize the presence of this powerful One who will bring life in its fullness into my future existence. Where are the events of my life leading me? To the Kingdom of Heaven. Where will the action of God in my life take me? The question of my relationship with future things is an important one. Advent calls us to mediate on our relationship with the future. John the Baptist invites us to see the initiative of God in everything that will happen to us, to see the work of benevolent Providence in those things that are taking place. When we begin to see things in this manner then we understand our lives as being a story of salvation, the story of an Advent, the story of the arrival of God into the depths of our existence. We are fearful because we think of life as a journey towards emptiness and the void. Instead it is a journey which ends with a leap into the arms of God! Everything is a form of preparation, a preparation for growth, for a new love which will be sown in our hearts, a greater spirit of service towards others, a greater joy, a more mature knowledge, for deeper encounter with the Lord. This is a journey that never ends because when we discover these beautiful things we always long for more. When we encounter the Lord we are happy because we know for certain that he will return again, that he will not leave us alone, and that he wants to enter into our lives in a still deeper way.

Let us be assured that the Lord has only begun his work in us. There is so much more that he intends to do with us, so let us prepare for his coming!

John the Baptist invites us to contemplate the fact that things are still incomplete, to appreciate that what is most beautiful has yet to come. When the people demand to know who he is, if he is the one who has been promised, he replies that he is only the beginning of something marvellous. How often people who are living the faith need to realize that they are only at the beginning, that the Lord is going to do even greater things with them! It is important to be aware of this fact. How true it is! If we have known the Lord to any degree, let us be assured that we are only at the beginning, there is much more that the Lord wishes to give us.

December 6th 2020. Second Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Mark: 1, 1-8

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

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Mark: 1, 1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way.

A voice of one crying out in the desert:

"Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths."

John the Baptist appeared in the desert

proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

People of the whole Judean countryside

and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem

were going out to him

and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River

as they acknowledged their sins.

John was clothed in camel's hair,

with a leather belt around his waist.

He fed on locusts and wild honey.

And this is what he proclaimed:

"One mightier than I is coming after me.

I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.

I have baptized you with water;

he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

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

Kieran’s summary . . . On this second Sunday of Advent, we read the first words from the oldest Gospel, that of Mark. These lines cite Isaiah and we learn that John the Baptist is in the desert announcing the immanent coming of the Lord. Why is the Lord’s way always prepared in the desert? As a result of disobedience, humanity lost the beauty of the garden and finds itself in the desert. Therefore, the people of Israel (and us as well!) have to do a long and difficult passage through the desert before entering the Promised Land. In Scripture, the desert is always a place of conversion and growth, a place of changing direction. The theme of this Gospel, ultimately, is the forgiveness of sins, becoming reoriented towards the love of God. All of Judea goes to John the Baptist, searching for the experience of the pardon of the Lord. Sometimes, our churches are not filled with people, perhaps because we do not announce the pardon of God clearly enough. John, we are told, was dressed in camel hair and ate locusts and wild honey. There is something very essential and ascetic about him, and the fathers of the Church were fascinated by these details. John represented a return to something elemental and authentic. He was living for what really counts. Each one of us needs to shed the infinite layers of protection under which we hide ourselves, to detach ourselves from that which is not essential. John wished to prepare us for our encounter with our real bridegroom, and this called for us to shed whatever is false, superfluous and empty, to become our true selves, what God created us to be. This demands that we shed useless interests and useless roles. Jesus alone is the one to whom we should yearn to be united. For this, we need to prepare His way into our lives by getting rid of aimless distractions, by embracing the simplification of the desert. Here we will become ourselves and be converted to his love.

This Sunday we read from the Book of Consolation of the prophet Isaiah and from the opening lines of the Gospel of Mark

In this second Sunday of Advent we have two beginnings: the opening words of the Gospel of Mark and the start of the “Book of Consolation” in the prophet Isaiah. The book of the prophet Isaiah can be divided into two parts: the so-called “proto-Isaiah” – the words of a wonderful and powerful prophet who lived in the eighth century before Christ; and a second figure, who may also have been called Isaiah, whose words are found from chapter 40 onwards of the book of Isaiah. This individual is directing his prophetic words at a completely different historical epoch, about 530 years before Christ. It is the time when the people are about to return home from exile to their own land. The time of correction and purification has come to an end. The words of the “Book of Consolation” speak of this time.

Why is the Lord’s coming announced in the desert, the most useless place to announce anything?

The Gospel reading is from the opening words of the oldest of the Gospels and it cites the prophet Isaiah. Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths." This cry in the desert represents a new beginning of some sort. The Second Sunday of Advent asks us to reflect on a passage through the desert. As the prophet says, “In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley”. Here we are talking about the way of the Lord’s coming and the necessity that it be prepared. John the Baptist was given this mission to herald the coming of the Lord. Usually a herald cries out in a crowded public square, but John does so in the desert! The desert seems the most useless place to proclaim anything. But John does so and announces a baptism of conversion. The people actually go to him from the city of Jerusalem and all of Judea. But why?

The desert represents our emptiness and poverty, our need for salvation. It is only when we are aware of our malnourishment and desolation that we look to the Lord

John begins in the desert. Why is such a strange place chosen for this new announcement? In Scripture the desert is the place of transformation and evolution. It is not a suitable place to live but is a place that we pass through to become something else, something new. When the people came out of Egypt they then passed through the desert in order to arrive at a new life. Many of them died on this journey, but above all it is a place where the “old man within us” must die. In this place of desolation and emptiness we encounter God. Why does the first Gospel begin in the desert? Why does the Book of Consolation begin in the desert? The ways of the Lord are prepared in the desert because the desert represents our emptiness and poverty, our failure and incompleteness, our utter fragility. We are inclined to think that we can begin from our abilities and talents, and these attributes will prompt the Lord to come to us. But how can we truly welcome him? How can we avoid missing him when he visits us every day? He visits us in thousands of ways, but we do not realize that he is present until we reflect on those things afterwards and see that we have failed to love and welcome him. How can we avoid missing the new life that comes to us in these ways? By beginning from the desert within us! We need to recognize our own poverty, failures and limitations. The new life always begins from the failure of the old one. We need to be poor so that when the Lord comes we are open to him. We need to be people who crave nourishment, who need to be consoled. Only then are we ready to welcome the Consoler.

John the Baptist tells us what we need to do, but only the Holy Spirit can give us the power to do these things

Who are we waiting for? John the Baptist speaks of “the one who is stronger than I am, the one who brings something greater than I can bring”. John provides a baptism in water and the challenge to repent and turn away from sin, but the one who is coming “will baptize with the Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit is the principle of new life, the principle of the life of God. He is equal to God, he is God and he enters into us. Who is stronger, the one who says “make straight the paths of the Lord”, the one who tells us the things that we need to do to prepare of the Lord? Or the one who gives us the capacity to do the things of the Lord? The Holy Spirit not only helps us to understand what needs to be done, he helps us to do these things, makes us capable of doing them. Jesus is the one who gives up his Spirit on the cross and then gives it to us when he is risen. The one who dies and rises again for us, who gives us life that originates in his love for us. John the Baptist helps us to understand what we ought to do, but the Lord Jesus enables us to do these things. He came to give us this completeness, this new life, that which allows us to live in a different manner, that which makes us born again from above.