Second Sunday of Advent

Four minute homilies

Second Sunday of Advent

On the second Sunday of Advent the Church presents to us Saint John the Baptist as a preparation for Christmas. He began to follow his vocation within his mother’s womb. Benedict XVI says that you find your goodness following the plan God has prepared for you. Nowadays people are afraid of discovering God’s plan for them. They think that their lives are too precious to use them for something else but themselves. They forget that unless you give your life, you lose it. When you follow God’s plan, you find your truth, and the truth sets you free. Your life becomes a witness to the truth. Living in a relativistic society, your life becomes a beacon of the truth.

What can we learn from John the Baptist? Many things, but I think his most important virtue and the foundation of all the others was his humility. Jesus praised him saying that there was nobody like him. Humanly speaking he was tops. To open the way of Jesus, he had to have the best talents, the best qualities to resemble his Master. He could have done whatever he wanted with his life, even becoming the Roman emperor, but he fulfilled his mission and disappeared. He even told his disciples when they complained that everybody was following Jesus, that he had to decrease and Jesus must increase. He also said that he wasn’t worthy to kneel down and undo the strap of his sandals. We, on the contrary, are too concerned about our own qualities, and we place them at the service of self, thinking how we can become famous or noteworthy.

Another virtue that shines in John the Baptist is generosity. He gave Jesus his two best disciples. When Jesus was passing by, he pointed out who Jesus was: “Behold the lamb of God.” John and Andrew didn’t think twice and followed Jesus. They became part of Jesus’ beloved apostles. His attitude is completely contrary to the norm in our society where we are encouraged to think only about ourselves. We have never had so much wealth in the history of humanity, and we have never been so selfish.

Saint John the Baptist gives us another great example to the people of our generation: fortitude. He denounced Herod, knowing that he could lose his head, and told him that he should not take his brother’s wife. We on the contrary are afraid what people will think of us and we don’t say what we need to be said because of fear of being belittled or being canceled out. Social media creates an anonymous culture where you can say nasty things without being accountable. We throw the stone and hide the hand that actually throws it. We need to think twice before we post anything, always trying to point out the truth yet acting charitably.

Let us follow the example of Saint John the Baptist to help open the way of the Lord for our relatives and friends. Jesus has sent us ahead of him in much the same way. But to do so we need to share some of his virtues, his talents, so that people can discover a bit of Jesus in us. Today we ask John the Baptist to help us to develop what we need in our lives to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

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