Reflection/Homily:
Second (2nd) Sunday of Advent Year A (December 8 2013)
Theme:
Prepare the Way of the Lord
700 years before the birth
of Christ, the people of Israel lived in a period of political and religious
crises. It was a time when their secular and religious leaders were wavering in
their loyalty to Yahweh. There were abundance of vices that idolatry and paganism
became the order of the day. True religion was sacrificed on the altar of
subjectivity and it was clear that the society was heading to doom. At this
moment, those who remained faithful to Yahweh were in the depths of despair. They
thought God had abandoned them and forgotten the promises He made to their
ancestors. It was against this backdrop that Isaiah spoke the prophetic words
we heard in the first reading (Is. 11:1-10). Isaiah dispelled the people’s fear
and despair by assuring them that God had not abandoned His people. He told
them that out of the remnant of Israel, God would raise a new Davidic king who
would establish peace and a glorious kingdom of justice on earth.
This prophecy was however
fulfilled in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. He is the expected
Davidic king who is to establish peace and a kingdom of righteousness on earth.
He spent his 33 years on earth establishing this glorious kingdom on earth. The
Church is this new kingdom established by Christ. The first reading in dramatic
terms described that in this kingdom, “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the
fatling together, and a little child shall lead them”. This is only a pictorial
description of the peace that reigns in the Church where God brings together the
mighty and the lowly and yet they worship Him with one heart. The Church is the
place where the Jews and the Gentiles, the saints and the sinners can
comfortably assemble together under one head and under one roof.
