Homily for the Second Sunday of Advent

Throughout the Advent season, our Old Testament readings at Mass focus on the prophet Isaiah, and with good reason. Much of Isaiah’s prophecy foretells the coming of the Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ, so we look at what Isaiah said about Our Lord as we prepare for His coming. Likewise, we also focus on John the Baptist and his proclamation of the immediate coming of the Messiah to the people of Israel.

It might be easy to read these texts as historical preludes to the story of Christmas. Just as a novel may have a prelude chapter to set the scene for the story, we can easy look at the prophesy of Isaiah and the proclamation of John the Baptist as setting the scene for Our Lord’s birth. That is true if we look at the story of Christmas as just that: an interesting, feel-good story with no effect on our lives today.

As Christians, however, we don’t believe that the Scriptures are a history book or a historical novel. Instead, we know they are living words with a message that is as needed today as it was 2000 years ago when John the Baptist first spoke them. We hear this message spoken concisely by John the Baptist in the Gospel today: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

Problem is, we don’t want to hear about repentance. There’s a popular view of repentance that is negative, with God seen as a stern judge who writes down every little thing we do wrong, and is ready to condemn us if we don’t repent. When we do repent of our sins, we receive harsh punishments enacted by God as a consequence of our sins, and terrible, difficult penances issued by priests within the Sacrament of Confession.

Of course, none of this is true. OK, maybe the last part about the priests giving difficult penances might be true, but the rest is not true. Repentance is not merely God deigning to forgive us of our sins, but a reconciliation with God. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it many times in the future: sin is our turning away from God, choosing our own right and wrong over what He has revealed as right or wrong, and is not God turning away from us. God truly is our Heavenly Father, and like many earthly Fathers, He wants to flood us with the best of gifts. When we repent from our sins, we become open to receiving His graces of healing and peace in our lives. Sin restricts us from His graces, but repentance opens us up to them.

To be clear, this repentance is not a one-time deal. Each of us, every single one of us, commit sins every day that we need to repent from. Also, we can’t just think, “I repent from my sins” and then go on with nothing changed in our lives. As John the Baptist told the Pharisees and Sadducees, “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” True repentance, which must include reception of the Sacrament of Confession, will lead to changes in our lives. They might be small, barely noticeable to all but those closest to you, but those changes still occur.

This true repentance should not be seen as something painful, although some measure of pain may come when we have to confront our pride. We should approach repentance as something joyful, something we desire above all things on Earth, because it truly is a joyful preparation in our lives for the coming of Our Lord and for our joining with Him. As St. Paul puts it, we should “think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus, that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We should seek union with Christ so that we may one day join Him and our brothers and sisters in the glories of Heaven.

John the Baptist tells us that those who repent and whose lives show the fruit of that repentance will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Isaiah promises us that in this Kingdom, “There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain […] for His dwelling shall be glorious.” This message of John the Baptist and the prophet Isaiah truly should be a message of joy and hope in our lives. If we are willing to let go of our pride and repent of our sins, we too will look forward with joy to the return of Our Lord.