REPENTANCE LEADS TO RENEWAL OF LIFE

St. John the Baptist preached fervently, urging his listeners to make preparations for the coming of the Messiah. Even though John’s preaching was characterized by scathing criticism, his call for reform is still described by St. Luke as “the Good News,” because the arrival of the Messiah will initiate a new reign of forgiveness, healing and salvation. The repentance which John preached called for a change in behavior and not just regret for the past. According to Scott Hahn, “Repentance” means a radical life-change involving a two-fold “turning”—away from sin and toward God. It requires “good fruits as evidence of our repentance.” That is why John told the crowds, soldiers and tax collectors, they must prove their Faith through works of charity, honesty and social justice. John demanded that men should share their goods with one another, emphasizing the principle of social justice that God will never absolve the man who is content to have too much while others have too little. John also insisted that a man should not leave his job to work out his own salvation. Instead, he should do his job as it should be done. He called people to fidelity in the very circumstances of their lives. Let the tax collectors be a good tax collector and let the soldier be a good soldier. In other words, it was a man’s duty to serve God where God had set him. We are expected to become transformational agents where we are. But if the work environment is such that we are unable to deal honestly and fairly with other people, we should probably find a new job. No wonder, John’s stirring message created a restless yearning for God in the hearts of the crowd, prompting them to ask the eager question, “What should we do?” People from every walk of life thronged to him. While some, no doubt, came out of curiosity, others were clearly motivated by religious fervor, and sought John’s advice about the direction their lives should take. So he had a message for each group of listeners.

THE CHALLENGING WORD OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

Each year, the second and third Sundays of Advent center on John the Baptist, reminding us that if we want to prepare properly for the coming of Jesus, we need to listen to the message of John the Baptist. The Evangelist realized the importance of John’s message. Hence, all four of them wrote about John’s preaching, while only two of them described the nativity of Christ. Following the style of ancient historians, St. Luke dates the appearance of John according to the ruling powers. He begins by setting the emergence of John against a world background, the background of the Roman Empire. After referring to the world situation and the Palestinian political situation, he turns to the religious set up and reports John’s emergence as a herald of the Messiah during the religious leadership of Annas and Caiaphas. Although Caiaphas was the reigning High Priest, it was Annas, his father -in-law and the retired High Priest, who was the religious power behind the throne of Galilee’s ruler at that time, Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the Great.  The “coming of the word of God”to someone is a standard formula for a prophetic call. In this case, the prophet was John, as he prepared the way for Jesus. John the Baptist proclaimed the coming of God’s Kingdom and preached a ceremony of immersion, as a response that was to symbolize the interior repentance that leads to forgiveness. The general consensus of Biblical scholars today is that John the Baptist began to preach in AD 28 or 29, and that Christ’s public ministry began that same time. John’s baptism was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and required repentance which implied a turning around to proceed in a new direction. That was a great challenge for the people at that time.

ADVENT—ANNUNCIATION—THE BEGINNING OF GOOD NEWS

We begin our yearly pilgrimage through the events of our history of salvation starting with the preparation for the birthday celebration of Jesus and ending with the reflection on his glorious “second coming” as judge at the end of the world. We are entering the Advent season. Advent means coming. We are invited to meditate on Jesus’ first coming in history as a baby in Bethlehem, his daily coming into our lives in mystery through the Sacraments, through the Bible and through the worshipping community and finally his Second Coming at the end of the world to reward the just and to punish the wicked. The traditional signs in the church remind us that we have to prepare for the rebirth of Jesus in our hearts and lives, enabling him to radiate his love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness around us. Every day when we get up, let us pray, “Lord, show me someone today with whom I may share your love, mercy and forgiveness.” St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) once said, “Whatever you do in your family, for your children, for your husband, for your wife, you do for Jesus.”  Every night when we go to bed, let us ask ourselves, “Where have I found Christ today?” The answer will be God’s Advent gift: Christ himself. St. Thomas Aquinas says: “Without God, I can’t. Without me, He won’t.”

 

CHRIST THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE

The Church’s liturgical year concludes with the feast of Christ the King. Instituting this feast, Pope Pius XI proclaimed:  “the peace of Christ in the reign of Christ.”This feast proclaims to assert the sovereignty of Christ and the Church so as to remind Christians of the fidelity and loyalty they owed to Christ, who by his incarnation and sacrificial death on the cross made them both adopted children of God and future citizens and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Although emperors and kings with their real ruling power exist today only in history books, we nevertheless honor Christ as King of the Universe and King of our hearts by allowing him to take control of our lives. In thousands of human hearts all over the world, Jesus still reigns as King. The Cross is his throne and the Sermon on the Munt, his rule of law. His citizens need obey only one major law:  “Love God with all your being, and love others as I have loved you.”His love is selfless, compassionate, forgiving, and unconditional. He is a king with a saving and liberating mission, freeing us from all types of bondage, enabling us to live peacefully and happily on earth and promising us an inheritance in the eternal life of heaven. In his dialogue with Pilate, Jesus implies that Pilate does not understand the spiritual and transcendent nature of his kingship. Jesus admits that he is a king but declares that his kingdom is not of this world. Neither His present nor His future reign operates according to the world’s criteria of power and dominance. Jesus’ kingdom, the reign of God, is based on the beatitudes and he rules through service rather than through domination. His authority is rooted in truth, not in physical force, and he has come to bear witness to the truth.