FIRST READING Baruch 5:1-9
Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever: wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the miter that displays the glory of the eternal name. For God will show all the earth your splendor: you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship. Up, Jerusalem! Stand upon the heights; look to the east and see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. Led away on foot by their enemies they left you: but God will bring them back to you borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones. For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God. The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God’s command; for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.
SECOND READING Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11
Brothers and sisters: I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
GOSPEL Luke 3:1-6
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
This is a Sunday of joy and gladness. Advent is about the coming of Jesus as our Savior. When we look at our world today, we see, as in every age, an enormous need for a Savior. There is chaos all around us. Terrorism begins to strike into the very heart of the world, no longer just in far off places. Advent invites us to prepare ourselves and our world for the Savior.
The first reading today is from the Prophet Baruch. This prophet reminds us that God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company. Probably it is difficult for us to sense this message in our hearts. We are Israel, you and I. God is leading us in joy by the light of His glory. We can only know this by faith in the Lord. We Christians are invited to believe in Jesus and to believe that Jesus has changed the world completely by his Advent, by His coming into the world.
Far too often we Christians look at the world as if we had no faith at all. We are convinced that somehow God’s coming into the world has not changed it, even as at the same time, we profess to believe. When there is terrorism, when there is still abject poverty, when people are still dying because no one cares—where is God?
Saint Paul tells us in his Letter to the Philippians today that he is confident of this, that the one who began a good work in us will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. We are invited to live in that same faith, with complete confidence. Sure, it is difficult to believe and even more difficult to believe that somehow God is changing our world for the better when, for all appearances, everything seems to be moving to chaos.
We can remember that in Genesis, God created the world out of nothing, out of an original chaos. God is capable of transforming the world immediately and is always working in the very depths of our human reality and of all creation: transforming in His way so that all will reflect His love and mercy.
The Gospel today is from Saint Luke and puts the figure of John the Baptist in front of us. This is another reminder that God is present. You and I are called to be John the Baptist in our world today, announcing that God is present and that God is changing the world to reflect His love. We should be able to proclaim from the depth of our hearts: all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
My sister and brothers, we are called to be witnesses that God has touched our lives and has touched our world. Salvation is here in our midst. Let us live in faith and confidence: God will complete His work.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip