Second Sunday of Advent, Year B
Last week we read the Prophet Isaiah raising this prayer to God on behalf of God’s chosen ones who had long desired the Lord’s mighty presence to be with them: “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down”. Today Isaiah repeats that plea instructing the people, “Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by His strong arm…”.
These two readings from Isaiah express a wonderful mystery of our faith, not that we have to implore God to be by our side; not that we have to beg Him to come down from His lofty mountain and connect with His people. The mystery of our faith is that He is already here… that God is with us right at this present moment. Yet, at the same time, we have not yet fully experienced His presence; we are a people waiting for the Lord to return in glory and bring His Kingdom to its completion. Advent is a time to reflect on His presence in our daily lives and to know that there is more to come…And so, we wait in hope! We look ahead to the day when God’s fullness will totally reign in our hearts and in the world. We wait for that day when a new heaven and the new earth will replace the old order; we wait for the day when the justice, peace, and the realities of God’s Kingdom replace the disharmony and chaos that are the dominant forces at work in our world today; we wait for our lives to be more complete and fulfilling.
Advent is a season of expectant hope. It is a time when we dream new dreams about becoming the person God has called us to be. It is a time when the Spirit of Hope leads us to new beginnings. Who do you want to be when that new heaven and new earth arrives? Do you want to be a more caring person? Do you want to be more gracious, more thankful and more prayerful? Or, perhaps, we want to leave behind memories of the past that are painful and full of sorrow. The beauty of Advent is that we get to fill in the blanks… and be filled with the hope that, with God’s help, we can accomplish all we dared to hope. Advent is a time of waiting, a season of hope, for God to come into our lives and fill us with the true gifts of this season… peace, joy, love, those gifts that come from the Holy Spirit.
Each of us has the opportunity to reclaim Advent as a special time of hope. Each of us can make this a spiritual season by looking inward and hoping that the promises God holds in store for each one of us will become our reality… promises of newness, renewal, of our well being. That’s what hoping is all about. .
May this Advent journey be a time of new beginnings, new hopes and new joys. May God’s gift of new life set us free to seek the giver and share the many gifts He has in store for those who place their hope in Him.
Enjoy the day and the season!Deacon Tom
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