Homily for the
2d Sunday of Advent
Dec. 8, 2024
Bar 5: 1-9
Ps 126: 1-6
Phil 1: 4-6,
8-11
Luke 3: 1-6
Notre Dame Sisters, Villa Maria, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx
“God
has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old
depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in
the glory of God” (Bar 5: 7).
I’ve
done a lot of hiking in Harriman State Park and the Hudson Highlands. The Appalachian Trail and most of the other
trails are constantly rising and descending, always putting to the test a
hiker’s knees and hamstrings, patience and stamina. E.g., in Harriman and just outside it, there
are ascents labeled Almost Perpendicular and Agony Grind; those are accurate
labels.
The Appalachian Trail starts up Agony Grind here.
I’m told it’s even worse in the
true mountains of North Carolina and New England. One has to keep the day’s goal in mind—the
next shelter or campsite—and of course the final destination, either Mount
Katahdin in Maine or Springer Mountain in Georgia.
The
prophet Baruch, disciple of Jeremiah, presents a goal for weary and discouraged
Israel; he addresses a gloriously restored Jerusalem: “Led away on foot by their enemies, your
children left you: but God will bring
them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones” (5:6). Dragged into exile by their Babylonian
conquerors, Jerusalem destroyed, nevertheless they’ll be led back home in joy
by God, “by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company” (5:9).
The
psalmist, too, sings of Israel’s wonderful homecoming: “When the Lord brought back the captives of
Zion, we were like men dreaming. Then
our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing” (126:1-2).
Israel’s
journey home from Babylon will be made easier because the Lord will cut down
the mountains and fill in the gorges—language that St. Luke uses as he
introduces John the Baptist, citing a similar prophecy from Isaiah (Luke 3:5;
Is 40:3-5), to speak of a different kind of deliverance, a deliverance not only
for Israel but for everyone: “all flesh
shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6).
The New Testament, e.g., the Letter to the Hebrews and the last 2 chapters of Revelation, speaks of a new Jerusalem, a heavenly one that’s the true fatherland for redeemed humanity.[1] This is our goal, our destination, where, by God’s grace, we’ll “put on the splendor of glory from God forever (sine termino[2])” (Bar 5:1), where “the one who began a good work in [us] will complete it” (Phil 1:6). That divine work of our salvation will be completed on “the day of Christ Jesus” (1:6), the day of his return in glory.
John
the Baptist preached that the day of the Lord was at hand, and people should
repent their sins so as to prepare for the day.
If we prepare, on that day we’ll be found “pure and blameless, filled
with the fruit of righteousness that comes thru Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:10-11). Our Advent season’s purpose is to prepare us: get ready, for Christ is coming.
The Triumph of Christianity
(Gustave Dore')
es,
he’ll come at Christmas, mostly in the externals of carols, Nativity scenes,
and midnite Mass (or a late evening one, anyway). So many lights, trees, Santa Clauses, and
shopping extravaganzas are distractions from his authentic coming. For Christ wants to come spiritually to each
of us, to cleanse our souls, purify us, find in us a home: to complete the good work that he began when
we were baptized, good work furthered by the sacrament of Reconciliation and
the Holy Eucharist, good work carried on by the love we’ve shown to family,
friends, and strangers, work that will be completed when he calls us home for
judgment. Our Advent preface tells us,
on that day “all [will be] at last made manifest,” and till then “we watch for
that day [to] inherit the great promise” of redemption. Even now, we “set out in haste to meet” him
so that we may “gain admittance to his company” (Collect) in our forever
homeland, the heavenly Jerusalem.
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