SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – CYCLE B – 2017-18
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 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, 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 transform 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) Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos
al Salvador.
Escucharé las palabras del Señor,
palabras de paz para su pueblo santo.
Está ya cerca nuestra salvación
y la gloria del Señor habitará en la tierra.
R. Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos al Salvador.
La misericordia y la fidelidad se encontraron,
la justicia y la paz se besaron,
la fidelidad brotó en la tierra,
y la justicia vino del cielo.
R. Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos al Salvador.
Cuando el Señor nos muestre su bondad,
nuestra tierra producirá su fruto.
La justicia le abrirá camino al Señor
e irá siguiendo sus pisadas.
R. Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos al Salvador.
Escucharé las palabras del Señor,
palabras de paz para su pueblo santo.
Está ya cerca nuestra salvación
y la gloria del Señor habitará en la tierra.
R. Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos al Salvador.
La misericordia y la fidelidad se encontraron,
la justicia y la paz se besaron,
la fidelidad brotó en la tierra,
y la justicia vino del cielo.
R. Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos al Salvador.
Cuando el Señor nos muestre su bondad,
nuestra tierra producirá su fruto.
La justicia le abrirá camino al Señor
e irá siguiendo sus pisadas.
R. Muéstranos, Señor, tu misericordia y danos al Salvador.
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 is 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 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.
He 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
But God, who had given the idea for
everything, disposed that the procurator came that morning to
From the opening to the closing days of my
tenure in office, I wrote a number of circular letters; but I had no desire to
write a properly pastoral letter until I had finished my first pastoral
visitation of the whole archdiocese, so that my words would apply to the real
situation and not be just so much idle talk.
My first pastoral letter, written and signed
on September 20, 1852, was addressed to the clergy. This letter was reprinted
and expanded to include declarations on the following: (1) clerical dress, (2)
duties of vicars forane, (3) duties of pastors and other priests, (4)
arrangements for pastors and assistants, (5) style of life, (6) chaplains, (7)
marriage regulations, (8) marriage dispensations.
My second pastoral letter of March 25, 1853
was addressed to the laity, reminding them of what we had taught them in the
missions and pastoral visits we had just completed. The third
pastoral was in protest against a shipment of evil books brought in by boat. The fourth was an invitation to prayer and other
pious works in order to obtain the declaration of the dogma of Mary's
Immaculate Conception. The fifth was written on the occasion of the
declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This was published in
Cuba, Barcelona, and Paris. May it all be for the greater glory of God and Mary
Most Holy, and for the good of souls, as this has always been my intention. (Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder de the Religious of Mary Immaculate Claretian
Missionary Sisters Autobiography 546,547,549.
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