DAILY- HOMILY

December 10, 2017 - 2nd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Violet

[Manila: Anniversary of the Dedication of the Metropolitan Cathedral]

Is 40: 1 - 5, 9 - 11 / 2 Pt 3: 8- 14 / Mk 1: 1- 8

FROM THE FIRST READING:          Is 40: 1 - 5

     Be comforted, my people, be strengthened, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, proclaim to her that her time of bondage is at an end, that her guilt has been paid for, that from the hand of Yahweh she has received double punishment for all her iniquity.

     A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley will be raised up; every mountain and hill will be laid low. The stumbling blocks shall become level and the rugged places smooth.

     "The glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all mortals together will see it; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."

FROM THE 2ND READING:            2 Pt 3: 10 - 12

     The Day of the Lord is to come like a thief.... Since all things are to vanish, how holy and religious your way of life must be, as you wait for the Day of God and long for its coming, when the heavens will dissolve in fire and the elements melt away in the heat.

GOSPEL READING:           Mk 1: 1- 8

     This is the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in the book of Isaiah, the prophet, "I am sending my messenger ahead of you to prepare your way. Let the people hear the voice calling in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord, level his paths."

     So John began to baptize in the desert; he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. All Judea and all the people from the city of Jerusalem went out to John to confess their sins and be baptized by him in the river Jordan.

     John was clothed in camel's hair and wore a leather garment around his waist. His food was locusts and honey. He preached to the people saying, "After me comes one who is more powerful than I am. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. As for me, I am not worthy to bend down and untie his sandals."

REFLECTION

     There is a difference between John's baptism and that of Jesus. John's was a baptism of repentance while that of Jesus is a baptism of the Holy Spirit. John urges the people to humbly own their transgressions and ask forgiveness from God. The baptism Jesus offers goes beyond that of John: with the baptism of Jesus we are not only freed from sin, we are also "reborn as sons of God." We become members of Christ's body and "are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission." (CCC #1213)

     We remember that, at the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, John was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb. It was also the same Spirit which led John into the wilderness where he was tested and grew in the Word of God and made him the forerunner of the Lord, "the messenger ahead of him to prepare his way" with unrelenting courage to reproach the people for the sins and stubborn unfaithfulness to God.

     The season of Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Lord, for his first coming as God-made-man and for his second coming as Lord and Judge at the end of time: during Advent we repent of our sins as John urged the people of Israel to "prepare the way of the Lord and level his paths."

     Are we eager to hear God's word and to be transformed by it through the power of the Holy Spirit? Do we lead others to Christ by the lives we lead, by our word and example? The message of Advent is repentance and conversion to lives guided by the Holy Spirit so that, like John the Baptist, we are able to give testimony to the light and truth of Jesus Christ.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     GINA MALLONGA 

     LORETO T. REYES

     PAULA O'GORMAN

THANKSGIVING 

     DENNIS, JOCELYN, HENRY, HANNAH, & HAZEL

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 

     MANNY AND DORY GUTIERREZ

IN MEMORIAM (†)

     JEFFREY GO

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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