Sunday ReadingsCommentary and Reflections

2nd Sunday of Advent CDecember 6, 2015

In preparation for this Sunday’s liturgyAs aid in focusing of homilies and sharing

Prepared by Fr. Cielo R. Almazan, OFM

1st reading: Baruch 5,1-91 Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put

on the splendor of glory from God forever: 2 Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. 3 For God will show all the earth your splendor: 4 you will be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God's command; 9 For God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.

The focus is to “rejoice.”

1st reading: Baruch 5,1-9

Jerusalem addressed as person (imperatives)1 Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery; put

on the splendor of glory from God forever:2 Wrapped in the cloak of justice from God, bear on your

head the mitre that displays the glory of the eternal name. Reasons for rejoicing (splendor, named peace of justice)3 For God will show all the earth your splendor: 4 you will

be named by God forever the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship.

A simple outline!Just pay attention to the

bold letters.

Jerusalem, again, addressed as person (given imperatives as in v.1)

5 Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights; look to the east and

Reasons for rejoicing (children coming back / high mountains lowered / levelled)

see your children gathered from the east and the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that they are remembered by God. 6 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.

7 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. 8 The forests and every fragrant kind of tree have overshadowed Israel at God's command; 9 For God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory, with his mercy and justice for company.

Commentary on the 1st reading

Baruch is believed to be a secretary of Jeremiah (based on Jer 36-45).

However, the book is known only in Greek. (No Greek yet in Palestine or Babylon during the time of Jeremiah.) The Jews in Alexandria liked it very much. But it has poor knowledge of the times and events, written later (like Esther, Judith or Daniel) to encourage a persecuted people.

Commentary on the 1st readingWell, the message of the text has a bearing on the

Advent Season.It captures well how Christians should feel about the

coming of the Lord, who brings salvation.There should be a change of mood: From sadness

and misery to rejoicing, standing up, refusing to be sad.

“For the Lord, through Jesus Christ, will show you your splendor, he will bring back your children…”

The coming of the Lord brings about change, not just a return to the former place, paving a level / flat highway to facilitate return, but also a return to ourselves (true identity), our dignity, glory and freedom.

Textual Context of Baruch 5,1-9 (NAB SG)

Introduction (1,1-14)Part I Humble Confession of Sin (1,15—3,8)

Way to Conversion (3,9--4,4)Part II Consolation (4,5—5,9)

Reflections on the 1st reading

The message reflects the feeling every Christian should have in anticipation for the coming of Christ: joy.

Advent is a season of joyful preparation and anticipation of the Lord’s salvific actions towards his people.

Beginning with the season of Advent, Christians must shred off sadness and desperation.

They must listen to the voice of the prophet, which comes from God.

To rejoice is God’s imperative.Christians should not dwell in the traumatic past.

Resp. Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 R. (3)  The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

1 When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,we were like men dreaming.2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,and our tongue with rejoicing.

2 Then they said among the nations,  “The LORD has done great things for them.”3 The LORD has done great things for us;we are glad indeed.

4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,like the torrents in the southern desert.5 Those who sow in tearsshall reap rejoicing.

6 Although they go forth weeping,carrying the seed to be sown,They shall come back rejoicing,carrying their sheaves.

Resp. Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6 R. (3)  The Lord has done great

things for us; we are filled with joy.

1 When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,we were like men dreaming.2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,and our tongue with rejoicing.

2 Then they said among the nations,  “The LORD has done great things for them.”3 The LORD has done great things for us;we are glad indeed.

4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD,like the torrents in the southern desert.5 Those who sow in tearsshall reap rejoicing.

6 Although they go forth weeping,carrying the seed to be sown,They shall come back rejoicing,carrying their sheaves.

Commentary The psalm was composed after the

Exile as v.1 indicates. V.1 expresses the feeling of a liberated

person. God has done a tremendous favor to

his people, of restoring them to Jerusalem after years of Exile. Unbelievable!

In v.2, the people cannot control their emotions. Spontaneously they are filled with laughter and joy.

Vv.2b-3 articulate how great the favor God has given them.

V.4 is a prayer to restore the fortunes of Israel.

Vv.5-6 show how God will turn the sorrows of his people.

They find life difficult now, but later, as they persevere, they will reap the fruits of their labor and sacrifices.

Reflections on the Psalm

Joy comes as a result of God’s liberating action towards us, who once were rejected and driven away.

Joy is God’s promise to those who are willing to take up the challenges now and to make the necessary sacrifices to make their work succeed.

It is just a matter of time when they will reap the fruits.

Some fruits come out after we retire (or after we have died).

2nd reading: Philippians 1,4-6.8-11

4 I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, 5 because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.

8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, 10 to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

The focus is the day of Jesus Christ.

2nd reading: Philippians 1,4-6.8-11Prayer of Paul4 I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,

5 because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.

8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, 10 to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

We find in the prayer of St. Paul what we should do for the coming of the Lord.

2nd reading: Phil 1,4-6.8-11Prayer of Paul4 I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,

5 because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.

8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, 10 to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

In the prayer of St. Paul, we find what we should do to prepare for the coming of the Lord (underlined).

Textual Context of Phil 1,4-6.8-11 (NJBC)

Letter A: 4:10-20 (a letter acknowledging a gift)Letter B: 1:1-3:1a; 4:4-7,21-23 (a letter urging unity and

joy)Letter C: 3:1b-4:3,8-9 (the body of polemical letter)

Where Paul wrote Phil

Philippi

Historical Context

2nd reading: Philippians 1,4-6.8-11Prayer of Paul 4 I pray always with joy in my

every prayer for all of you, 5 because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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.

8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, 10 to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Commentary Paul writes the letter while he is

imprisoned (either in Ephesus or Rome). Vv.4-6 express the prayer of Paul for his

friends in Philippi. He wants them to continue their mission work. They have been his mission partners since the beginning. Paul prays with joy.

V.8 invokes God as witness to his feelings for them. He’s not bluffing.

V.9 speaks of the content of his prayer: That your love may increase in

knowledge (discernment) V.10 That you may discern what is

valuable (Do not go for what is trivial). Purpose: to be faultless for the day of

the Lord, But filled with righteousness from

Christ (v.11)

Reflections on the 2nd readingMission work is non-stop.We, Christians, are missionaries.Missionaries must be discerning, must have good

judgment. Correct judgment (prudence) comes with Love.

The Christian missionary must be able to distinguish what is basic to Christian faith and what trivializes it.

When we focus on what is trivial (not valuable, not necessary for salvation), we compromise missionary work.

Another important point in the reading is the element of joy in Paul.

Imprisonment, immobilization or physical paralysis must not dampen our spirits.

Gospel Reading: Luke 3,1-61 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, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 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. 5 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, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

The focus is on John the Baptist and his message.

Gospel Reading: Luke 3,1-6Political Background 1 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,

Religious Background 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God

came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. The mission of John 3 He went throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a

baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, Isaiah’s Prophecy 4 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. 5 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, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

A simple Outline!

Gospel Reading: Luke 3,1-6Political Background 1 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,

Religious Background 2 during the high

priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.

Gospel Reading: Luke 3,1-6

The mission of John 3 He went

throughout (the) whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

CommentaryLuke begins his story with a political

and religious background. He exhibits awareness of the socio-political and religious environment during his time.

He situates the mission of John against the political and religious leaders (vv.1-2) with their names mentioned.

The mission of John consists in preaching baptism of repentance.

Why repentance? For the forgiveness of sins (v.3)

His area of apostolate is along the Jordan River (not in the cities), but in the desert (a place where it is easier to listen).

Gospel Reading: Luke 3,1-6John’s Mission

fullfillment of Isaiah’s Prophecy

4 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. 5 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, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

V.4 interprets the preaching of John as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy.

The prophecy is very similar to the first reading, (chronologically speaking Isaiah came first before Baruch).

The main point of the prophecy is to facilitate the coming of the Lord.

The Lord is none other than Jesus who brings salvation to all (v.6)

Salvation is universal.

Further commentaryJohn prepares the people to welcome Jesus, when he

comes. It is just a matter of time now. John is six months older than Jesus.

John does it by baptizing (by immersion) people who respond to his words.

Baptism is a sign of repentance.What is repentance here?

It is the turning away from sin.Sin is being absent from God. Sin is also wanting to know God but turning the wrong

way, having a wrong approach (not that of Jesus). The Jews wanted to know God, but they refused to accept his

anointed One, but those who anointed themselves.

Reflections on the gospel reading

Repentance is the first step towards God. Repentance is turning back to God, setting your direction to him. Metanoia.

You cannot follow Christ without having first repented.Repentance can be done again later if there are

infractions.Repentance means cleansing ourselves from sin.Repentance paves the way to become closer to God

through Christ.

Tying the 3 readings and the Psalm

The first reading calls each Christian to be joyful. There should be no place for sadness, for the Lord is

coming.The psalm expresses joy over God’s intervention to

restore his people.The second reading calls each Christian practitioner to

increase their love, to continue his/her mission and to be discerning, intelligent (not tactless).

The gospel reading calls each person to repent, to turn to God.

How to develop your homilies and sharing

Begin by telling a story about an athlete preparing for the competition. (Exercise, practice, discipline, training, good food, good rest, good attitude, fighting spirit, sacrifices).

In this season of Advent, we must make the necessary preparations to encounter Jesus who is coming to teach us.

The readings give us hints on how to do it.

The first reading enjoins us to keep up the good and fighting spirit, shrug off sadness and negative energy and be more optimistic.

We bank on God’s promises to restore us into his care.

Joy must prevail over despair.Inability to rejoice is a sign of lack of faith and

confidence in oneself and in God.In God, there is no place for cynism.

The second reading challenges us to increase our love.

We must embrace more people into our inner circle, not contented with the same people that give us comfort and make sipsip (always affirming us to a fault, beware when people say good words about you).

We must go to missions to meet different faces, cultures, challenges, and places where we are nobody. We engage in New Evangelization.

Like Paul, we must pray with joy, even if we are under intense pressure or undergoing hardships.

The gospel reading calls us to go deeper into our spiritual life, by turning away from sin and turning to God, through Jesus.

We facilitate the coming of the Lord. We don’t make his journey toward us difficult. We do not evade him. We do not make a lot of excuses “I am not yet ready. I am busy. Next time na lang.”

We don’t postpone our conversion. We listen to the voice of the prophet as he

speaks to us right now, through the readings and sermon.

What happens if there is no conversion in this season of Advent?

There won’t be any change also in the days to come.Christmas will be trivialized, seen only as a social

event or just a holiday, devoid of religious meaning.If we do not change our value system (show signs of

repentance), our celebrations will be exercises of futility.

Christmas never becomes a source of inner joy and an expression of thanksgiving.

Christmas will just make us poorer and miserable.

This season of Advent should lead us to go deeper into ourselves and see what keeps us away from God, why we can’t pray or enjoy praying, why our relationships with our loved ones are not

getting better, why we don’t feel the presence of God in our midst.

In this season of Advent, we must diligently examine ourselves.

We cannot engage in the New Evangelization if we are unrepentant.

The eucharist is for those who are converted to the Lord.

We encounter the Lord in the eucharist, if we become repentant sinners.

And if we really feel we are helped by God in the eucharist, let us encourage others to receive the same, to join in our eucharistic communities and actively participate in the life and mission of the Church.

Our Context of Sin and GraceKill joyNo joyConfuses joy with having many possessions and much

powerNo loveNo sense of sin and guiltUnrepentantChristless Christmas holiday

Simple and joyfulAll embracing loveMore quality time /

intimacy with God and with family

Compunction Repentant heartsGood confessionGood conscienceActive in New

Evangelization

Suggested Songs

Make Straight the Pathhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWlq2ouoEMg

Yesteryears’ Cursehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlKeY-Ikk2U