{"id":2725,"date":"2018-12-09T12:23:55","date_gmt":"2018-12-09T17:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2725"},"modified":"2018-12-09T12:23:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T17:23:55","slug":"2nd-sunday-of-advent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/2nd-sunday-of-advent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

2nd<\/sup> Sunday of Advent, Year C<\/a>
\nBaruch 5:1-9
\nPsalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 (3)
\nPhilippians 1:4-6, 8-11
\nLuke 3:1-6
\nDecember 9, 2018<\/p>\n

Our gospel starts with a list of names, names that I don\u2019t really know how to pronounce.\u00a0 This is not a random list of names.\u00a0 Rather, it is a list of names that help provide a cultural setting and time for when Jesus\u2019 First Coming happened.<\/p>\n

The names are all leaders of the secular government or the high priests.\u00a0 These are people in positions of prestige and notoriety, hence using their names to provide a setting.\u00a0 They were also people in positions of power.\u00a0 So, one could speculate that the Lord would come through them.\u00a0 Government leaders could have helped spread the word.\u00a0 The high priests could have authenticated Jesus as the Messiah but it was not to them that the word of God came.<\/p>\n

It was to a simple man, John the Baptist, that the word came to \u201cprepare the way of the Lord.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t not pick the rich and the strong.\u00a0 God chooses the humble.\u00a0 It is through the ministry of John the Baptist that the Lord began to fulfill what He had prophesized through Isaiah, that \u201cevery lofty mountain be made low<\/em>,\u201d and \u201cthat the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

We live in a world where there is \u201cmisery<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 We see it in people starving in third world countries.\u00a0 We also see people who lack enough food in our own community who we assist through the Community Food Closet as well as our Poor Fund.<\/p>\n

We see it in the mass shootings.\u00a0 We blame some of those on people with mental illness but what do we do to help those with mental health issues.\u00a0 Catholic Charities in Wayne County is providing services that we hope lead to better lives for these people to not get to the point of shootings.<\/p>\n

We also blame some of the mass shootings on hatred that might be based on race, ethnicity, immigrate status, or religious affiliation.\u00a0 Do we make sure that we always act and speak in a way that promotes love rather than hate?\u00a0 It\u2019s not that we mean to hate some group but how might our words or actions falsely feel someone else justified in their hatred.<\/p>\n

It might seem easy to say, \u201cI can\u2019t fix it,\u201d with regards to any or all misery that we see.\u00a0 We feel it\u2019s up to someone with more influence and power than us.\u00a0 We feel powerless to make a difference by ourselves.<\/p>\n

Here I go back to what I said about all those people in the gospel.\u00a0 God could have chosen any of those leaders for their power and prestige.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t.\u00a0 God choose to call John the Baptist to \u201cPrepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as God worked through John the Baptist, he can work through any one or all of us.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already mentioned some ways that we can help by making sure people can have food to eat or receive the mental health services they need.<\/p>\n

Thinking of how the \u201clofty mountain be made low<\/em>,\u201d how much more do you have than you need?\u00a0 Have you built up a big mountain for yourself?\u00a0 Having some <\/em><\/strong>savings can be smart but do we hoard things in a way that keeps others from having enough?<\/p>\n

On the other end, how might we be an instrument of God so \u201cthat the age-old depths be filled to level ground<\/em>?\u201d\u00a0 By this I mean is there something we can do to help those with less have what they need?\u00a0 This might be in simply making sure we don\u2019t overconsume.\u00a0 It can be in advocating for the less fortunate.<\/p>\n

So far, the ways of helping I have described could lead to only helping those with less with material help, help that is important but not enough.<\/p>\n

We need to make sure our motivation in helping the less fortunate is not to make ourselves look good.\u00a0 We shouldn\u2019t do it just to get ourselves into Heaven.\u00a0 We need to do it out of love and to help the people to know that they are loved.\u00a0 This means treating them with dignity.\u00a0 It means treating them with respect.\u00a0 It means treating them as a child of God.<\/p>\n

It means showing the less fortunate that they are more important to us than the stuff we have.<\/p>\n

It also means showing our faith in the way we respond to the \u201cmourning and misery<\/em>\u201d in our own lives.\u00a0 Do we respond in a way that says that this is all there is in the world and that it dictates how we feel or do we that we know God is present with us?\u00a0 To put in the words of Isaiah, \u201ctake off your robe of mourning and misery, put on the splendor of glory from God forever<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Do we look past the things of this world to see and enjoy what God offers us?<\/p>\n

You might say you have tried doing this without success.\u00a0 We think success should come in an instant.\u00a0 God should just snap his fingers and everything will be fine.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t work that way.\u00a0 It comes in God\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

We are a work in progress.\u00a0 Becoming Christian disciples is an ongoing process.\u00a0 Remember Paul\u2019s words, \u201cI am confident of this, that the one who began<\/u><\/strong> a good work in you will continue<\/u><\/strong> to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

This is my prayer for you, for each and every one of you, that you let God into your life more and more each day, that you may know his love for you and that you share his love with others.\u00a0 Let the Lord truly and fully into your lives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C Baruch 5:1-9 Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 (3) Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11 Luke 3:1-6 December 9, 2018 Our gospel starts with a list of names, names that I don\u2019t really know how to pronounce.\u00a0 This is not a random list of names.\u00a0 Rather, it is a list of names that …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘2nd Sunday of Advent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[223,82],"tags":[375,224],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-HX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2726,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions\/2726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}