Second Sunday of Advent – C
5th December 2021
Ba 5:1-9
Phil 1:4-6.8-11
Lc 3:1-6
Collect of this Sunday:
Almighty and merciful God,
may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to your Son,
but may our learning of heavenly wisdom
gain us admittance to his company.
We are the people who are looking for the consolation of Israel. In the words of the collect, we are hastening to meet Emmanuel, the Son of God. Our hearts are aflame with the desire to be joined to Christ, to live ever more fully in him. He took our humanity to himself so that we might share in his divine nature. This is the reality of marriage, which it is the privilege of human marriage to reflect. This is the consolation of the whole human race: it is the reward of faith in the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man for us.
When we recognise that we are hastening to a meeting we are reminded of the call of the ten maidens to meet the bridegroom. All through the Scriptures we find the love of God and the bond between between God and his people described in terms of husband and wife, of lover and beloved. St John the Baptist saw his role as a prophet in these terms. He is the ‘friend of the bridegroom’, the best man, who is bringing the bride to her husband. He ‘hears the voice of the bridegroom and is filled with joy’. Having called us to repentance he accomplishes his mission by pointing out the bridegroom in our midst.
The collect relates John’s preaching of repentance to us: we are to free ourselves from preoccupation with our earthly commitments so as to be able to hear the voice of the bridegroom. We are to be humble so as to listen to the one who speaks in our hearts, inviting us to reach out to him and to our neighbour in love. We are to recognise our own dignity by recognising the dignity of others, thereby proclaiming that we are all children of one Father, of God himself.
The collect also encourages us to advance in heavenly wisdom so as to be prepared to live ever more truly in the presence of Christ, the Divine Bridegroom. This is what the Prophet Baruch is referring to in the first reading, a reading that reminds us of the Paschal Vigil, the time of the renewal of our baptismal grace, that grace which is ever growing and flowering in joyful fidelity to Christ.
St Paul also, who continues to pray for us, urges us to grow in love and in knowledge, above all the knowledge of God. This will come to us if we persevere in prayer.
The good work of our Baptism is to flower, to take over our lives. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of love is to be our guide in all things as we await the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The Spirit and the bride say ‘Come’. Come, Emmanuel. Come, Lord Jesus.
Dom Gregory Corcoran, Prior