Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent (Year B)

Saint Peter makes a curious statement about how we are to live our lives: he says we should be “hastening the coming of The Day of God.” But, how could we possibly do such a thing as hastening the coming of the Lord, especially in light of the Lord’s own words to us last Sunday: “You know not when the time will come.” Can the Lord’s Second Coming somehow be forced, brought forward, or hurried?

In a manner of speaking: Yes! Ancient Jewish thought differentiated between two “Ages” or “Days”
+ The Present Day
+ The Day of the Lord

The Present Day was depicted as life without the leadership of the Messiah, a time of sinfulness, and rejection of God’s Law. The Day of the Lord, however, was predicted to be a time of Grace and Peace, secure in the Presence of God, through the same Messianic leadership.

In between the two Ages there would be a wrenching era:
+ filled with strife
+ war-torn
+ with an upheaval of both change and resistance to change.

While this sounds like the world around us today, we can interiorize this whole scenario as an invitation to holiness and purification, through the Examination of Conscience we make before going to Confession.

The “Present Day” would now be seen as our lives in a State of Sin:
+ venial or mortal
+ sins of commission and omission
+ imperfections, especially in failures in Charity.

The “Day of the Lord,” in the interior life will be seen as our lives in the State of Grace: aware of God’s Grace, and therefore, aware of God’s mercy and great love that Grace can empower through the practice of the Faith.

Getting from Point A to Point B will necessarily involve some
+ soul-searching
+ yearning for growth and change
+ that pesky Examination of Conscience

This is likely why so many people avoid going to Confession. But this is essentially why the Lord came to us:
+ to save us from our sins
+ to lead us into holiness…
… which is why the Season of Advent has a penitential character, albeit anticipating the joy of living as people redeemed.

This is the “comfort” of which Isaiah speaks: a comfort generated by guilt expiated. But the Prophet then instructs us to prepare the way of the Lord (filling in valleys… lowering mountains) an active, not a passive approach to the “comfort” which comes from living in the State of Grace.

Then Saint John the Baptist appears to us as anything but a “comforter,” living a life of simplicity “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

Saint Mark tells us that many people were attracted to John: some in hope, others, perhaps, in mere curiosity, but, eventually, to the point of repentance and conversion through Baptism. Yet, Saint John, in humility, points to a clear distinction between himself and the coming Messiah, saying, “I have baptized you with water; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” This means that John’s baptism cleanses a person from sin, but Jesus comes to purify us for God’s Holy Presence.

Our Lord did not invent Baptism; He changed it… which is to say He gave it greater fullness by instituting Baptism’s sacramental character. Now, with Jesus, Baptism is about both:
+ washing away sin  — that is — the effect of Original Sin…
+ entrance into the Kingdom of God by belonging to Christ in His Church.

No longer a Jewish ceremonial ritual, Our Lord made Baptism a Christian Sacrament, the means of entering His Church, providing a threshold to the other Sacraments, which is what Saint John meant when he said, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In making this prophecy, John stirred up a longing within the hearts of his followers for the Coming of the Messiah, an event that was very near, indeed, which had already begun. He instructs us to conduct ourselves in holiness and devotion: internal and external manifestations of our relationship with God. So, what will devotion and piety feel like/look like in practice?

Devotion is that interior quality of connectedness with God which generates spontaneous, intimate prayer, and draws beyond ourselves, perhaps to participation in communal prayer. It’s what love of God “feels like.”

Holiness, or piety is that external quality of connectedness with God which generates virtuous living, formal prayer, charitable self-sacrifice, and determines how we approach the Presence of God in church. It’s what love of God “looks like.”

Moving inward toward devotion and outward toward piety, or holiness, is what will hasten the Day of the Lord, for it hastens our movement toward His Kingdom and makes of our lives a living Advent.