Second Sunday of Advent Year B 2023

Title

Waiting for the King

Outline

Waiting - it is not easy

At our Priests Advent Day of Prayer Fr. Vincent Anyama talked about several virtues and in particular fortitude, noting that it is the patient endurance, the hypomone, of scripture: we have a problem with being both patient and enduring.

Isaiah ch 40 comes from the exile

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.” That is easy to read as are words like “her guilt is expiated” and the promises later on in the chapter, and yet how hard it is to get excited about that when one lives through years of exile and centuries of being under the thumb of other nations in one’s own land. The response might be, “Yeah, but . . .” or “I hope so, but I will believe it when I see it.”

The appearance of John the Baptist was a brief respite

John was the son of priest (which says something about Mary), which was hopeful, for the Maccabeans had been priestly. He appears in the wilderness, perhaps having lived with the radicals in Qumran, but that was also the place for new uprisings and the purification of the Exodus. He is wearing prophetic vestments, reprising Elijah and Elisha. He is “my messenger” according to Mark, and that is what Malachi means. He eats super kosher, i.e. no grape product and no meat, a Nazirite of the Nazirites. He invites people to the purificatory bath.

Yet he does not say, “I am the culmination” but ““One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.” How much long must we wait?

The truth is that many would not recognize the One when he came, and after he left again in the ascension many thought of him as a disappointment. They echoed those on the road to Emmaus, “We had thought he would be the one to redeem Israel.” Only they did not get the tutelage in the scriptures Jesus gave those two.

Then 2 Peter tells the Church to wait some more

“Where is the promise of his coming?” a significant faction in the Church was saying then and is still saying now.

“Ah yes,” says Peter, “God’s time is not our time” (we would say that he is outside of time), so “a short wait for him might be millennia for us, but it is still soon.”

And 2 Peter gives a reason, “God does not want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance,” which is why I pray for repentance for Putin, and Hamas, and those leading the military campaign of Israel and all others thought “beyond the pale.”

But the promise is repeated: he will come, will come unexpectedly, will pull back the skies and expose the earth for judgment, and will bring what we await, “according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

And that hope, which produces patient endurance or fortitude in us, underlies our growth in virtue: “since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.”

Sisters, that is the call to us

Wait, as Sisters grow old and eventually expire. Wait generations of Sisters even if the Order itself grows old and expires. Wait as countries like the USA collapse, or all Western culture. It is an eye-blink in God’s eyes.

But wait rightly. Wait with eyes fixed on the goal, wait with truly patient endurance, waiting realizing that the stars themselves are as impermanent as our cities and lives, wait praying for the repentance of all, and, most of all, wait in peace, making sure that you and I are found without spot or blemish before him.

Then we will see the fulfillment, perhaps in our lives and perhaps accompanying him from heaven. That is the promise of the prophetic word.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings 12-10-2023: Second Sunday of Advent

FIRST READING

Isaiah 40:1–5, 9–11

CHAPTER 40

1 Comfort, give comfort to my people,

says your God.

2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her

that her service has ended,

that her guilt is expiated,

That she has received from the hand of the LORD

double for all her sins.

3 A voice proclaims:

In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD!

Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!

4 Every valley shall be lifted up,

every mountain and hill made low;

The rugged land shall be a plain,

the rough country, a broad valley.

5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together;

for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

9 Go up onto a high mountain,

Zion, herald of good news!

Cry out at the top of your voice,

Jerusalem, herald of good news!

Cry out, do not fear!

Say to the cities of Judah:

Here is your God!

10 Here comes with power

the Lord GOD,

who rules by his strong arm;

Here is his reward with him,

his recompense before him.

11 Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;

in his arms he gathers the lambs,

Carrying them in his bosom,

leading the ewes with care.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-10-2023: Second Sunday of Advent

RESPONSE

Psalm 85:8

8 Show us, LORD, your mercy;

grant us your salvation.

PSALM

Psalm 85:9–14

9 I will listen for what God, the LORD, has to say;

surely he will speak of peace

To his people and to his faithful.

May they not turn to foolishness!

10 Near indeed is his salvation for those who fear him;

glory will dwell in our land.

11 Love and truth will meet;

justice and peace will kiss.

12 Truth will spring from the earth;

justice will look down from heaven.

13 Yes, the LORD will grant his bounty;

our land will yield its produce.

14 Justice will march before him,

and make a way for his footsteps.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-10-2023: Second Sunday of Advent

SECOND READING

2 Peter 3:8–14

8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

11 Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought [you] to be, conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. 13 But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, since you await these things, be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

Catholic Daily Readings 12-10-2023: Second Sunday of Advent

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Luke 3:4, 6

4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one crying out in the desert:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths.

6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

GOSPEL

Mark 1:1–8

CHAPTER 1

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God].

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;

he will prepare your way.

3 A voice of one crying out in the desert:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make straight his paths.’ ”

4 John [the] Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins. 6 John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey. 7 And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. 8  I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings 12-10-2023: Second Sunday of Advent

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2023 | ADVENT

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

YEAR B | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Isaiah 40:1–5, 9–11

Response Psalm 85:8

Psalm Psalm 85:9–14

Second Reading 2 Peter 3:8–14

Gospel Acclamation Luke 3:4, 6

Gospel Mark 1:1–8