HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

2nd Sunday of Advent

The liturgy of the second Sunday of Advent is entirely centered on the word ‘preparation’. 

Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord.

Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.

Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low

These words of the prophet Isaiah make us understand well the importance of living these weeks of Advent intensely as a time of preparation for the encounter with Jesus who comes among us. 

Let's try to delve deeper into the meaning of preparation. If we look at our lives, we realize that our days are full of preparations. For every important thing, we need to prepare well. Let's think about the simplest things in our daily life: in order to feed ourselves, someone must prepare a lunch or a dinner. Think how embarrassing it would be if we all went to the table and no one had prepared the food! To go to school you need to prepare, you need to have textbooks and notebooks with you.  

Let's now think about great events: for example, when you have to get married you need to prepare many things, it takes the right amount of time to do everything well. When a friend we haven't seen for a long time comes to visit us, we have to prepare the house to give a worthy welcome. If there is something broken in our house, we fix it before that friend arrives. 

Or think about what is happening now in Dubai with COP28: you know how much preparation was needed. It took a lot of energy and effort to host such an important international event. Now in light of these examples, let us understand the words of the Prophet who invites us to prepare the roads because the Lord is coming to visit us.

The preparation for the coming of a friend is in itself a great consolation, because it means that he will really come. Can you imagine preparing many things if no one comes? It would be a contradiction. This is why when we prepare, we also express the certainty that he who is to come, will surely come and we want to be ready for this meeting.

The gospel tells us about John the Baptist in whom the prophecies are fulfilled: he is the one who invites us to prepare for Christmas. How does he prepare the way of the Lord? First, he invites the people to be aware of their own sin, he asks everyone to confess their sins, to recognize themselves in need of God's forgiveness. In this way John the Baptist awakens the desire for salvation in everyone and arouses people to decide to change their existence, abandoning the path of evil and choosing the path of good.

Furthermore, John the Baptist does not attract people to himself, he does not form his own community, but is all aimed at bringing others to Jesus. He prepares the way, and he bears witness to Jesus: I have baptized you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.

So here is the program for our advent. Let us therefore prepare ourselves, first by recognizing ourselves in need of salvation, in need of the love that Jesus brings. Let us prepare ourselves by confessing our sins. Let us approach the sacrament of reconciliation in these weeks and make a pilgrimage to the Holy Door. And if we have argued with someone, I invite you to make peace and reconcile. May our hearts be free from sins and feelings of resentment; may the heart be ready to celebrate when Jesus comes among us again.

This is how we too can prepare the path of the Lord: Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low.