OMELIE / Omelie FR

10 dic 2023

10/12/2023 - 2nd Sunday of Advent - year B

10/12/2023 - 2^nd Sunday of Advent - year B

Reading 1 IS 40,1-5.9-11 Psalm 84 Reading 2 2PT 3,8-14 Gospel MK 1,1-8

This second Sunday of Advent we stop to look at John the Baptist and listen to his message.

The evangelist Mark begins his introduction with a passage from the prophet Isaiah. The Scriptures start being fulfilled, with his “cries” in the desert. A lot of people are attracted by his behaviour and his words of hope. We can see that, to go to him, you need to leave your own comfort zone, following physically a path which mirrors the spiritual one.

To listen to God’s Word and begin to take steps towards conversion we need to put distance between us and our habits, comforts, accepting poverty and sobriety.

John comes in wearing simple and rough clothes: it is the typical outfit of the prophets. The Word of God needs to come out of the mouth which puts Jesus above everything, which does not bend to the fashions created by men’s ambition. Moreover, he eats what the providence lets him find, food untouched by the hand of men who are always sinners, vain, sensual and selfish, even when they are preparing food.

What is John saying? He is talking about someone else, someone “mightier” than him, irreplaceable in his role of groom of the people of God. The person who loosens the thongs of the sandals is traditionally someone who could love a widowed wife instead of her rightful next husband: the person coming will not give up this right, which is God’s Himself. God is the groom of the people: His love will be made tangible by He who comes and will “baptize with the Holy Spirit”.

John baptises, but his Baptism is only in preparation for Jesus’s. John’s baptism limits itself only to take away the sins of the man’s life, so to get men closer to God, making them recognise His son and preparing them to meet Him.

Jesus’s Baptism instead will give men God’s very life, it will make them divine, holy.

John’s role is the one announced by Isaiah, a role of struggling to prepare the way to make the Lord’s coming easier. The way is the one passing through our decisions, the relationships with other people, our thoughts, our feelings: there the Lord has to pass, there He must not be able to find any obstacle.

When He will be able to come, joy will permeate everything, because He will bring the greatest love, the love which will never end. It is important therefore the forgiveness of sins: these are the obstacles which slow down or hinder the coming of the Bridegroom, the one who loves and makes life a celebration. John calls everyone to ask for forgiveness for the sins, and after him Jesus will give the Spirit which makes us similar to God.

Saint Peter too in his second letter is inviting us to recognise the sins and to repent. The Lord will come when we are ready, repented. The joy of His coming is both close and far away: it is close, because the Lord comes soon, but it also far away, because He awaits patiently for our own good.

We are waiting for Him, transforming our life according to the Lord’s desires, who knows we will be satisfied and truly happy only when our life will be a reflection of His, a life of communion and of limitless love. We rejoice in the wait for His final and glorious coming, we enjoy being able to celebrate His first coming and being able then to welcome Him already, even if not yet in all the glory which will be revealed in the end!