Celebrate Sunday Mass - Second Sunday of Advent - 12.6.20

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12/6/2020 (3 years ago)

By Deacon Keith Fournier

Second Sunday of Advent

Dear Catholic Online Community and Catholic Online School students...

I AM HAPPY TO OFFER EACH OF YOU AN INVITATION TO SUNDAY MASS ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT in the Catholic Diocese of Tyler. The response to offering these beautiful liturgies has been overwhelming. The readings, as always, offer so much for us to reflect on. It is helpful to pray through them and reflect upon them before we go to Mass.

On this Second Sunday of Advent, the scriptural passages proclaimed at Holy Mass continue to call all of us to prepare for the coming of the Lord. To live as though we know he will return and to look for His Coming. The great Hebrew Prophet Isaiah is an important part of the Advent season. He was, and is, a Messianic prophet. The passage we will hear at Mass is the beginning of the 40th chapter of the Book and it begins what is called the "Book of the Consolation of Israel".

Israel has been exiled to Babylon, and longs for the Lord to send a Savior. The Lord speaks words of comfort and consolation through His Prophet. He speaks of a voice crying in the wilderness, "prepare the way of the Lord". As Christians, we now know that that voice was that of John the Baptizer, the precursor, who will use these very words in the Gospel we hear this Sunday in his work of preparing the way for Jesus.

In our second reading, from the Second Letter of St Peter, written to all of the early churches, the Apostle Peter, the first Pope, warns the Christian faithful, who are awaiting the final coming of the Lord, in the midst of persecution, not to be deceived by false teachers which had already crept into the early communities. He quotes the Psalmist, from Psalm 90 that "with the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."

We are living in increasingly hostile times; Christians are facing a growing persecution. We, like the early followers, should be looking for the coming of the Lord. But we also must always remember that the Lord is never slow in His coming. He longs for all men and women to be saved. We are called to live our lives in holiness, as witnesses to all men and women that Jesus is Lord. How are we doing?

The Gospel for Holy Mass is the very beginning of St Marks account. "This beginning of the Gospel" is not only about a story of something that happened millennia ago. The Lord has come! The Lord is coming! He always comes to those who, with the eyes of living faith, look for Him - in His Word, in Prayer, in the Sacraments of the Church - and He will come again.

The Lord is with us. He has been raised from the dead and continues His ministry now, by the Holy Spirit and through His Mystical Body, the Church.

The Lord wants all men and women to repent of sin and to prepare the way. We are given the words and example of John the Baptizer by the Lord. First, to show us that He has fulfilled all the promises of the Hebrew Scriptures, by sending Jesus, His beloved Son, to be the promised Messiah. But, also, The Baptizer shows us how we are to live as Christians today. We are called to prepare the way in our own day and help all whom we know to repent and turn to Jesus Christ.

We are to live as an Advent people, preparing the Way for Jesus Christ. How are we doing?

May the Lord bless you, your families, the Church, and the Nations of the world on this Lord's Day.

Deacon Keith Fournier
Dean of Catholic Online School
Chaplain of Your Catholic Voice Foundation

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