December 4th 2022. Second Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL: Matthew 3:1-12

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

 

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

 

1. Advent is not so much an invitation for us to get close to the Lord as it is the revelation that he has made himself close to us. Advent is not about us worrying about what we have to do, but a contemplation and openness towards what he is doing in us

On this second Sunday of Advent, we hear the precious announcement of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” This might sound like a threat. Indeed, the entire passage can be read with a certain tension, but the Kingdom of Heaven is a joyful thing that had been so long awaited by the people of Israel. Consider the key term of this passage, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near”. We might think of this as a topographical closeness, as if the Kingdom as an entity is physically near, but in the original Greek, it really reads, “The Kingdom of Heaven is approaching”. In other words, it is God that has taken the initiative. Our King is coming to us. Advent is not so much an invitation for us to get close to the Lord as it is the revelation that he has made himself close to us. Advent is not about us worrying about what we have to do, but a contemplation and openness towards what he is doing in us. “Make straight the way of the Lord” is not an exhortation to make straight our own path, but to make the Lord’s path straight, to remove those obstacles that prevent him from entering our lives. We often try to turn the faith into something small and portable, something that fits in with our way of life, but Advent is calling us to be open to the Lord, what he wants to do, which is always different to our plans and expectations.

 

2. The strange characteristics of the Baptist signify that God is resetting history. John, dressed in this primitive manner, announces that history is going to have a new beginning. What we have to realise is that the Christian faith is not something that depends on our initiative, but on the new thing that God is doing.

John the Baptist is wearing a garment made of camel’s hair with a leather belt. His food is locusts and wild honey. The primitive garment recalls the clothing sewn by the Lord for Adam and Eve after they had made themselves naked by stripping themselves of their relationship with God. John the Baptist marks a new beginning in humanity’s relationship with the Lord. The locusts recall the plagues of the Old Testament and the journey towards the Promised Land. In summary, these characteristics of the Baptist signify that God is resetting history. John, dressed in this primitive manner, announces that history is going to have a new beginning. What we have to realise is that the Christian faith is not something that depends on our initiative. It is not that God created the world and now we simply follow his rules and pursue our own lives. No, God is always creating, always putting into action our salvation, searching us out in every event of our lives. Even the most difficult and painful aspects of our lives can be openings to salvation. In these things the Lord is knocking on the door.

 

3. The happy news of Advent is that it is a time to chop away and be liberated from that which is unfruitful in our lives. This year, let us allow the Lord to enter and to strip away that which is useless, that which does not belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. If our life circumstances are stripping us of something, maybe it is something that is not so essential after all.

Advent wants to transport us to a completely new beginning, a radical availability to what the Lord wishes to accomplish in us. John the Baptist insults the Pharisees by calling them a race of vipers. They wish to reduce religion to rituality. In fact, they will go on to reject Christ because he does not conform to their way of doing things. This is the risk we all run: we deify our vision and make an idol of our way of thinking, remaining closed to what the Lord wishes to do with us. How many times it happens that it is at a moment of suffering or difficulty that we begin a new way of life. In these situations, people feel impoverished, unable to resolve the difficulty themselves. Then, finally, they become open to the way of the Lord, what the Lord wishes to do with them. In the Eastern tradition, John the Baptist is always depicted with a tree nearby and an axe at its base. The happy news of Advent is that it is a time to chop away and be liberated from that which is unfruitful in our lives. This year, let us allow the Lord to enter and to strip away that which is useless, that which does not belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. If our life circumstances are stripping us of something, maybe it is something that is not so essential after all. Jesus says that we should have our treasure in heaven where the thief cannot steal and the moth cannot destroy. Whatever the thief can steal, whatever the corruption of this world can take from us, let them have it! For whatever it is, it is not of eternity, it does not belong to the deepest truth of who we are.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

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.