By Msgr. Joseph Prior • Posted December 6, 2024

(See the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent)

Thanksgiving is a great time for reunions. Government officials and the media report this is the most traveled time of the year in the United States. Families are reunited when loved ones come to visit. On the Sundays before and after the holiday, we see young adults home from college to be with their families. Those weekends are also good times to meet family members who are in from other parts of the country or even from overseas.

In addition to the festivities surrounding Thanksgiving Day, a lot of excitement is generated as the families await the arrival of loved ones. Great preparations are made for the homecoming. Rooms are readied, favorite foods are purchased and prepared, and activities and gatherings are planned. Speaking to parents who welcome children or grandchildren, I hear them say things like: “I love having them home,” “I can’t wait until they arrive,” “it’s a lot of work but no burden,” and “I wish they could stay.” The preparation is full of joy and anticipation for the reunion is a celebration of love.

One aspect of Advent is the preparation for the Lord’s return. It is a time of vigilance, a time of anticipating the arrival of, and being ready to welcome, the Lord. The Gospel passage for this Second Sunday of Advent, from the Gospel according to St. Luke, speaks of the Baptist’s role in preparing for the Lord’s first advent or “coming.”

Prior to this, however, St. Luke situates John’s ministry in its historical context. He names the emperor, the Roman governor, the tetrarchs of Judea and the nearby regions. In doing so, the evangelist reminds us that the events he is recalling happened in time, though their significance will be eternal. The historical information provides a backdrop for what is happening. It needs to be marked because what is happening is of the greatest importance for us and for all mankind.

The news of Jesus’ coming is remarkable, it is Good News, it is great news. His coming will inaugurate of the Kingdom of God; redemption and salvation are at hand. The significance of his coming is seen symbolically in Luke’s quote from Isaiah. Natural images are used for a transformation on a cosmic scale: valleys will be filled, mountains and hills made low, winding roads will become straight, and rough roads made smooth. The message finds a resonance in the first reading from the prophet Baruch.

Baruch prepares Israel for the Lord’s saving action, for deliverance and restoration. “Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever.” He speaks of God acting in a definitive way to raise Jerusalem in splendor. His saving activity will gather together all the dispersed from the lands to which they were taken or to which they fled in fear. Enemies of justice and peace will be destroyed. He then uses natural images, some similar to Isaiah, to mark the greatness and transformative power of the Lord’s saving activity. This saving activity is realized definitively in Christ Jesus.

Now back to the Gospel: St. Luke tells us that the Baptist’s role is a ministry of preparation. Quoting Isaiah he describes John as, “A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” The Baptist’s call is one that we can take to heart every day but in a particular way during the season of Advent. The Baptist calls for repentance. The repentance is not only a turning away from sin but a “change of mind” — looking at life in a new manner, having our way of thinking changed.

Sometimes when our certain ingrained patterns of thought have changed, it’s like “mountains and hills being leveled.” This “repentance” is viewing life, its purpose, its significance, its meaning in accord with God’s vision for humanity. In other words, making God’s way, our way; or again in other words, accepting and acclaiming God as our King.

Now inevitably when we focus on this we will notice that we sometimes have made bad choices and sinned, so Advent is a good time to have these sins forgiven through the sacrament of penance. The outpouring of mercy that flows from Christ Jesus is readily available. Experiencing the transformation that occurs inside us as we are freed from sin can be like “rough roads being smoothed.” So the call to repentance is not just something that John did in the historic past; his ministry of preparation echoes now as we eagerly await Christ Jesus’ return.

St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians also gives us another aspect of “preparation.” He expresses his confidence in the Philippians that “the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” God is the source of all good but we cooperate with him when we allow him to work in us. Love is the ultimate expression of his good works.

So the prayer Paul offers for the Philippians, he also offers for us in our day: “that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”

The visits and gatherings of family and friends at Thanksgiving are still fresh in our minds. The joyful expectations resulted in celebrations of love. Perhaps we might use those experiences to help us reflect on our preparation and anticipation of the Lord’s return.

Saints Luke, John the Baptist and Paul each offer us ways to prepare. The advent of the Lord is worthy of such joyful preparation for what we anticipate is the ultimate reunion in love with Love himself.

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Msgr. Joseph Prior is pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish, Penndel, and a former professor of Sacred Scripture and rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.