SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – B – 2020-2021
Last Sunday, First Sunday of Advent,
the liturgy invited us to be awake, to be watchful.” In the Second Sunday of Advent we are invited
to prepare the way.” Only those who are watchful will be able to prepare the
way.
FIRST READING : ISAIAH 40:1-5. 9-11
Ø This Reading is taken from the beginning of
the book of the Second or Deutero-Isaiah. This prophet speaks to the people
exiled in Babylon, and announces that they will soon return to their beloved
country.
Ø The fragment we are going to read offers
several images of a unique beauty, images of peace and consolation.
o First
Image verses 1 &2.
§ He has served his sentence, these words bring
to our imagination the feelings of the prisoner who has completed his sentence,
and he is told that he will soon be free.
§ Another translation of the same sentence says:
his service is completed. These words bring to our mind the soldier who is
allowed to return to his country after having served his country during the
designated time.
o Second Image versos 3 & 5
§ A voice cries out, what does it cry out? PREPARE
THE WAY! How? Make straight in the wasteland a highway for
our God! This image brings to our mind
the preparations that were made in ancient times for the arrival of important
persons: kings, emperors, war victors, conquerors…
§ The crooked way has to be made straight for
the road to be safe for the journey.
§ Thus the Lord will reveal himself and all
human beings will see his glory.
§ This text reminds us also of the crossing of
the sea, when the slaves from Egypt walked through a safe path in the midst of
the waters.
§ Or the journey of these same slaves, being now
a nation, in their way through the desert to the promised land. With them goes Yahweh, the Lord of Hosts, as
the Old Testaments call him so many times.
o Third Image
versos 9 &10
§ The Messenger who brings good tidings; in
ancient times the messages were sent personally by means of messengers.
§ This messenger is asked to go up to a high
mountain and cry out at the top of his voice.
§ What does he has to announce? That God is here.
§
God comes with
power and he brings the salary with him, but his recompense comes before him. What does that mean? Is he talking about the
salary that Christ has gained on the cross and which he transforms in
recompense freely given to us?
Fourth
Image verse 11
§
The shepherd who
feeds the sheep with kindness, is an idyllic image.
§
The shepherd feeds the flock; he
carries in his arms the little lambs and takes care of the ewes.
This reading is filled with themes for our meditation and for our personal reflection on our own life. Let us prepare, in the desert of our heart, a way for the Lord, a way smooth so that our brothers and sisters will not find any difficulty in the relationship with us. And thus we may be able to announce to all that the Lord is near, that he comes, but more than that, that he is already in our midst and takes care of us as the shepherd takes care of each one of the sheep according to its needs.
SALMO RESPONSORIAL – SALMO 85, 9-10. 11-12. 13-14.
R.
(8) Lord,
let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.
I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD—for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear
him,
glory dwelling in our land.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness,
and grant us your salvation.
Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness,
and grant us your salvation.
The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and prepare the way of his steps.
R. Lord, let us see your kindness,
and grant us your salvation
This
psalm is a supplication of the community in three parts:
o God’s
actions verses 2-4
o A supplication verses
5-8
o
A divine Oracle that is fulfilled verses 9-14
The
responsorial psalm of the Mass is taken from the third part.
Let us reflect on the word peace = SHALOM in Hebrew.
o
Shalom has a
wider and deeper meaning than our word “peace.”
o
Among us the word
“peace” frequently means absence of conflict, of differences, of
confrontations, of war.
o
But the meaning
of shalom goes beyond this, maybe we
could translate it as harmony.
o
According to the
dictionary the word harmony when it refers to music means the combination of simultaneous
and different sounds, but consistent. This means that peace understood as
harmony is the combination of what is different to make a whole accord and beautiful.
o
Shalom speaks of
peace and harmony in the relationships between creation and its Creator. This entails:
§ The relationship of the human being with
his/her creator. Relations of peace and
harmony in which we are filled with the joy of experiencing and of knowing that we are cared for, loved and fondled by
our God, who is our Father.
§ The relationships among the human beings, this
harmony in the relationship are translated into justice. Relationships through
which we acknowledge each other as brothers and sisters, all created by the
same God who is Father and Mother of all.
§
The relationship
between the human beings and the rest of creation, and this also entails
justice. As the psalm says justice and peace shall kiss. Relationships in which we acknowledge
ourselves as part of the same creation together with the rest of the created beings.
GOSPEL – MARK 1:1-8
At the beginning of his Gospel, Mark says that
he will tell us the Good News of Jesus, the Son of God.
Good News because Jesus is always newness and
goodness; and also because it is a new period in salvation history.
The person of Jesus will be revealed more and
more clearly, as we go further into the Gospel of Mark until we reach the
climax of Jesus death, when a Roman soldier, a pagan, on seeing how he dies
will recognize him as the Son of God.
The biblical quotation which follows after the
prologue is a combination of different texts taken from Exodus
23:20; Isaiah 40:3 y Malachi 3:1,
Mark introduces John the Baptist as the Herald
of good news who can point out the Messiah as present.
After explaining the mission of John in verses
2 and 3; his preaching in verse 4, his success in verse 5 and his life style in
verse 6; in verses 7 and 8 the Baptist introduces Jesus to us.
John
tells us that he does not feel himself worthy to loosen the thongs of Jesus
sandals. That he, John baptizes in water, but Jesus will baptize them in the
Holy Spirit.
CLARETIAN CORNER
About the
Nuns you cannot imagine how much I have had to do, read the letter I write to
the Prioress.
The Minister of Grace and Justice has given me some hope, we will see. If
instead of being Nuns they were Sisters they could have come yet to establish a
new house; but since they have to live in the cloister,
they cannot exit from there until they do not have a place of destination here.
Alas Currius!
How many sacrifices I have to do for those Nuns! You already know how much it revolts me to deal with those material
things. I like to preach, to hear confessions… but to deal with the building of
convents, that I do not like, I cannot, and in spite of this I am doing it. Saint Anthony Marie Claret, Founder of the Claretian
Missionary Sisterts, Letter #72 of St.
Anthony Marie Claret to Rev.Paladio Currius August 4, 1857, in Cartas de los Orígenes, Madrid 2009
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