2nd Sunday of Advent

2nd Sunday of Advent 08 December 2024

Lectionary Readings: Bar 5:1-9; Ps 126:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5, 6; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3:1-6

Theme: “Blessed”

The Second Sunday of Advent falls this year on 8 December, so the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to Monday, December 9, therefore it is a Holy Day of Obligation in some countries. Remember that December is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “From all eternity God chose with infinite wisdom the woman who would be the Mother of His divine Son. To prepare for the Word Incarnate a spotless and holy tabernacle, God created Mary in grace and endowed her from conception with all the perfections suited to her exalted dignity. St. Thomas teaches that through her intimacy with Christ, the principle of grace, she possessed beyond all creatures a fullness of divine life.” — Liturgical Meditations, The Sisters of St. Dominic.

This feast invites us to meditate on the virtue of purity. “Mary alone – “our tainted nature’s solitary boast” never saw her soul’s purity darkened with the dust of any stain, nor did she see in any part of her triumphal course toward heaven any sin or trace of worldliness. By a unique and singular privilege from God, she was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her Immaculate Conception; by another privilege derived from the first, the Lord did not permit her ever to be stained even with those unavoidable failings of human weakness.” — Luis M. Martinez.

Every Feast of Immaculate Conception always reminds me of all the miracles that I received during my teenage days. One of the good things that I received was I saw the Images of the Immaculate Conception, after coming from our Church and therefore I avoided the accident from a car  running on the highway because I was focusing: looking and following this image. Being a member also of the Legion of Mary until now I make sure that I recite the Holy Rosary and Catena Legionis every day as an offering to my Mother and Queen.

Let’s also reflect on the reading for today, 2nd Sunday of Advent, from the book of Baruch a Hebrew name that means “Blessed”. It is one of the two poetic parts of the book and speaks of consolation to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, who long to return to Jerusalem. Luke 3 of the Gospel of Luke, the third gospel account in the New Testament is traditionally attributed to Luke the Evangelist, a companion of Paul the Apostle on his missionary journeys. It contains an account of the preaching of John the Baptist as well as a genealogy of Jesus. The Proclamation of John the Baptist in our Gospel, urges the people of his day to repent and return to the God who loves them passionately. We can also see in the Gospel Luke 3:1-6; God’s saving work within the context of world history: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…” – to demonstrate that Jesus’ ministry, preceded by the ministry of the preparation by John, are real events, bringing God’s redemption into both the Jewish and the wider world.

Through the gospel, God goes to the heart of the problem, which is the human heart. When sinners repent and believe the gospel, they will change morally from the inside out. The preaching of the gospel is God’s solution for the moral problems facing this evil world. Luke begins this new section that introduces the ministry of Jesus Christ by listing the political and spiritual leaders at the time when the forerunner, John the Baptist, began to preach. The call to return to the God who loves us deeply runs through all our readings today, and the feast of the Immaculate Conception looks as one of the examples of how to be “Blessed” in this present time; Like Mama Mary let’s say “Behold the Handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.” O Mary conceived without sin; Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

For Reflection and Discussion: 1. How can we share the Joy of the Gospel in the present time? 2. Do I truly believe that I’m Blessed? In what sense?

Bibliography: McKenzie, J.L. Dictionary of the Bible (New York: 1965); Liturgical Meditations, The Sisters of St. Dominic; The Sanctifier: Martínez, Luis M. (Luis Maria), 1881-1956

This week’s Sunday Liturgy Commentary was prepared by
Dunhill Malunar Timkang, Israel-Jerusalem, Bat Kol Alumnus: 2023

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