Baruch 5:1-9. Psalm 126:1-6. Phil.1:4-6,8-11. Luke 3:1-6.

John the Baptist is one of the prophets who helps us through the spirit of this Advent. Isaiah will continue his role as well, and so will Mary as we already have seen in the celebration of the Solemnity of her Immaculate Conception. John is seen as both a witness to Jesus as well as a herald and prophet. Luke helps us to understand his role in salvation history today by fixing the time of his appearance and that of Jesus. Luke is giving us the historical background of the occupied land of Israel at the beginning of today's chapter three. The deeper meaning of this is expressed in a hinge passage in Luke 16:16: "Up to the time of John (the Baptist) it was the Law (Torah) and the Prophets; from then onwards, the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it." We hear his words for the first time in Luke and they echo Isaiah 40:3-5 as well as call us to repentance. His is a public and prophetic preaching of forgiveness and a complete turning back to the Lord our God (a metanoia or conversion). He is heralding the one who is to come and who is greater than he. He is not worthy even to bend down and fasten his sandals. This scene is close to what Baruch says in the first reading where we hear a messianic proclamation of comfort, encouragement and justice and peace. The Psalm enters into the joy of surprises given by God wherein our homeland is restoredf and all fares well for our harvests of time and talent. It seems like a dream come true and it is more than that for it is the reality of God's coming among us in the person of the Messiah Jesus the Christ. Then St. Paul describes what happens to the baptized person once we realize such a conversion experience of repentance and awareness of the Christ in our life. Our love then will abound in understanding and wealth of experience for we now value the things that are of God and we live in the expectation and reality of the presence of Jesus in our life. So having walked with Mary in the first week of Advent, we are now with John the Baptist. This second week of Advent will have as many surprises of God's grace as the first week...if we are open, listening, and aware to the Word of God and the Eucharistic Presence. Amen.