Reflection/Homily: Second (2nd) Sunday of Advent Year A (December 8 2013)
Theme: Prepare the Way of the Lord
700 years before the birth of Christ, the people of Israel lived in a period of political and religious crises. It was a time when their secular and religious leaders were wavering in their loyalty to Yahweh. There were abundance of vices that idolatry and paganism became the order of the day. True religion was sacrificed on the altar of subjectivity and it was clear that the society was heading to doom. At this moment, those who remained faithful to Yahweh were in the depths of despair. They thought God had abandoned them and forgotten the promises He made to their ancestors. It was against this backdrop that Isaiah spoke the prophetic words we heard in the first reading (Is. 11:1-10). Isaiah dispelled the people’s fear and despair by assuring them that God had not abandoned His people. He told them that out of the remnant of Israel, God would raise a new Davidic king who would establish peace and a glorious kingdom of justice on earth.This prophecy was however fulfilled in the New Testament in the person of Jesus. He is the expected Davidic king who is to establish peace and a kingdom of righteousness on earth. He spent his 33 years on earth establishing this glorious kingdom on earth. The Church is this new kingdom established by Christ. The first reading in dramatic terms described that in this kingdom, “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them”. This is only a pictorial description of the peace that reigns in the Church where God brings together the mighty and the lowly and yet they worship Him with one heart. The Church is the place where the Jews and the Gentiles, the saints and the sinners can comfortably assemble together under one head and under one roof.