Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Catholic Caucus: Sunday Mass Readings, 12-09-12, Second Sunday of Advent
USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 12-09-12 | Revised New American Bible

Posted on 12/08/2012 8:46:24 PM PST by Salvation

December 9, 2012

Second Sunday of Advent

 

Reading 1 Bar 5:1-9

Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery;
put on the splendor of glory from God forever:
wrapped in the cloak of justice from God,
bear on your head the mitre
that displays the glory of the eternal name.
For God will show all the earth your splendor:
you will be named by God forever
the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship.

Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that they are remembered by God.
Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you
borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.
For God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground,
that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
The forests and every fragrant kind of tree
have overshadowed Israel at God's command;
for God is leading Israel in joy
by the light of his glory,
with his mercy and justice for company.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6.

R. (3) The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
we were like men dreaming.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us;
we are glad indeed.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
like the torrents in the southern desert.
Those who sow in tears
shall reap rejoicing.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Although they go forth weeping,
carrying the seed to be sown,
They shall come back rejoicing,
carrying their sheaves.
R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Reading 2 Phil 1:4-6, 8-11

Brothers and sisters:
I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the day of Christ Jesus.
God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value,
so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ
for the glory and praise of God.

Gospel Lk 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
"Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be filled
and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."


TOPICS: Catholic; General Discusssion; Prayer; Worship
KEYWORDS: advent; catholic; prayer
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 last
To: All
Insight Scoop

Living Between the First and Final Coming of Christ

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, December 9, 2012, Second Sunday of Advent | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Bar 5:1-9
• Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
• Phil 1:4-6, 8-11
• Lk 3:1-6

"There are three distinct comings of the Lord of which I know," wrote St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the great twelfth-century doctor of the Church, in one of his Advent sermons, "his coming to people, his coming into people, and his coming against people."

He added that Christ's "coming to people and his coming against people are too well known to need elucidation." Since, however, today's Gospel reading mentions both groups—those Christ comes to and those he comes against—a bit of elucidation is in order.

St. Luke took pains to situate the fact of the Incarnation within human history. He did so by providing the names of several different rulers, beginning with Caesar Augustus (Lk. 2:1), who reigned from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14, and who was ruler of the Roman Empire when Jesus was born. In today's Gospel, the Evangelist situates John the Baptist's bold announcement of Christ's coming in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius, the stepson of Augustus, reigned from A.D. 14 to 37. Pontius Pilate was appointed procurator of Judea by Tiberius in 26, and served in that post for ten years. Those men and the others mentioned by St. Luke—Herod, Philip, Lysanias, and the high priests Annas and Caiaphas—ruled the known world while the ruler of all creation walked the dusty roads of Palestine and announced the kingdom of God was at hand.

The Roman rulers were ruthless and often violent men who established rule and kept order through military might and political power. They did, in fact, establish and keep a sort of peace—the pax Romana—which lasted about two centuries (27 B.C. - c. A.D. 180). Yet that peace was both uneasy and fragile; it had been won by the sword and often relied on fear, intimidation, and persecution. St. Luke's mention of these rulers was, on one hand, meant to support the historical nature of his "orderly account," which was to be "a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us..." (see Lk. 1:1-4).

But it was also meant to establish a deliberate comparison and contrast between the rulers of this world and the ruler of nations, between the kings of earthly realms and the King of kings. The Roman rulers used force and relied upon fear, but the Incarnate Word came with humility and love. Emperors were announced and escorted by armed soldiers, but the birth of the Christ child was announced by heavenly hosts offering songs of praise, not swords or spears. "What the angel proposes to the shepherds is another kyrios [Lord]," notes Fr. Robert Barron in The Priority of Christ (Brazos, 2007), "the Messiah Jesus, whose rule will constitute a true justice because it is conditioned not by fear but by love and forgiveness..."

The Lord came against injustice, fear, violence, and death, and would himself experience each of those dreadful realities for the sake of all men. Such would be "the salvation of God" spoken of John the Baptist, who quoted from Isaiah's beautiful and moving hymn-like reflection on the glory and goodness of God (Isa. 40). John, like Isaiah, was pointing toward the comfort, peace, and joy that only God can give.

Yet the final rest and joy is not yet fully known. We live, St. Bernard explained, during the time of the "third coming" of Christ, between the Incarnation and the final coming, or advent, when all men will finally see the pierced but glorious Lord. "The intermediate coming is a hidden one; in it only the elect see the Lord within their own selves, and they are saved." Christ comes to us in spirit and in power; he most especially comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine.

"Because this coming lies between the other two," wrote St. Bernard, "it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last." That winding road is the way of the Lord, the path of Advent.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the December 6, 2009, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)


41 posted on 12/09/2012 5:43:07 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: All
Vultus Christi

Adore te devote, latens Deitas

 on December 9, 2012 10:14 PM |
Ostensorio di notte.jpg

O hidden God,
I adore Thee.

O silent God,
I adore Thee.

O utterly humble God,
I adore Thee.

O ineffably obedient God,
I adore Thee.

O God, faithful and constant,
I adore Thee.

O piteously vulnerable God,
I adore Thee.

O God delivered into the hands of sinful men,
I adore Thee.

O God held lightly in the hands of Thy priests,
I adore Thee.

O God most fragile in appearance,
I adore Thee.

O God, offering Thyself to be broken and consumed,
I adore Thee.

O God, ready to descend into the souls and bodies of poor sinners,
I adore Thee.

O God, ignored by the multitudes,
I adore Thee.

O God, whose real presence heretics deny,
I adore Thee.

O God, grieved by the coldness, indifference, and irreverence
of too many of Thy priests,
I adore Thee.

O God, denied to little children who would long to receive Thee,
I adore Thee.

O God, excluded from the rooms of the dying,
I adore Thee.

O God, waiting to be carried to those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death,
I adore Thee.

O God, surrounded by routine and unbelief,
I adore Thee.

O God, waiting for the company of Thy priests,
I adore Thee.

O God, forsaken in Thy tabernacles,
I adore Thee.

O God, ignored in Thy churches,
I adore Thee.

O God, unacknowledged in Thy sanctuaries,
I adore Thee.

O God, forever adored by the Angelic Choirs,
I adore Thee.

O God, who art Love, and all Love, and forever Love,
I adore Thee.


42 posted on 12/09/2012 5:49:52 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: All

Pure and Blameless

 

by Food For Thought on December 9, 2012 · 

This call to have a change of heart continues to serve as challenge to us particularly during this season of Advent. What areas of our life are we supposed to be more aware that need to be changed and to be touched by the power of God’s love and mercy? Can we recall our mission when we were baptized that we are to turn away from Satan and the allure of sin? It is obvious that this call to conversion is a lifelong project. What then are habits, attitudes, and relationships that remain unbaptized? What are our actions that continue to distance us from God? However, there is some problem at times in that we want God’s help and comfort but we are not prepared to change our ways, not prepared for a genuine conversion. For God to come to us, we also need to go to Him.

A significant detail then is the image of the desert which is important in Scripture. It is a holy place, a place where God is specially to be found. It is also a place of struggle. It was in the desert that the Israelites spent 40 years on their way to the Promised Land. It was in the desert that Jesus had his struggle with the Evil One. It was in the desert that Jesus often went to pray and in the desert that he fed the people.

In the same manner, there is a call for us to go and stay in the desert of our, hearts where we can communicate with God. In that seemingly lifeless and empty space, may we find inspiration in the beautiful prayer of Paul to the Philippians: that your love may increase ever more …. so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness…”

To be filled with righteousness becomes vital in the context of our preparation for Christmas and the coming of the Lord into, our own lives. Christmas is not simply the commemoration of a historic event, in the distant past. It is a time for reflection and personal renewal about the coming of Jesus into our life, into the life of our Christian communities and into our wider society.

If we find ourselves constantly in the company of our Lord, then we will be at peace in spite of storms raging around us. For us, the Day of the Lord holds no fears. For us, every day is Christmas and that is what makes Christmas so special to us. For us, ever y day is a Day of the Lord.

John is indeed a role model for us whose call of repentance is something that we can take as a challenge as we prepare for the coming of Jesus more deeply in our lives. John knew something about Christ and he was humble enough to point out to all of us the true and only Messiah.


43 posted on 12/09/2012 6:02:06 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: All
One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

 


<< Sunday, December 9, 2012 >> Second Sunday of Advent
 
Baruch 5:1-9
Philippians 1:4-6, 8-11

View Readings
Psalm 126:1-6
Luke 3:1-6

 

"PREPARE YE"

 
"I am sure of this much: that He Who has begun the good work in you will carry it through to completion, right up to the day of Christ Jesus." —Philippians 1:6
 

The effects of Jesus' Christmas coming are inexpressible and unimaginable (see Eph 3:20; 1 Cor 2:9). Even the preparations for His coming are of colossal proportions. "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be leveled. The windings shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth" (Lk 3:5). "For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground" (Bar 5:7). After such mountain-moving preliminaries, Jesus' Christmas coming will effect a heart-moving response, "and all mankind shall see the salvation of God" (Lk 3:6).

Do you believe that the Lord's coming this Christmas will be as life-changing and world-transforming as the Advent Scriptures seem to indicate? If you do, you should throw yourself into this Advent, fill in valleys by repentance, move mountains by faith (Mt 17:20), straighten the crooked ways by healing, and smooth the rough ways by forgiveness. "Make ready the way of the Lord, clear Him a straight path" (Lk 3:4).

 
Prayer: "My prayer is that your love may more and more abound, both in understanding and wealth of experience, so that with a clear conscience and blameless conduct you may learn to value the things that really matter, up to the very day of Christ" (Phil 1:9-10).
Promise: "Take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever." —Bar 5:1
Praise: Alleluia! Praise the risen Jesus, Who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit!

44 posted on 12/09/2012 6:17:02 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: All
 
Indeed, let us pray to remove paying for the abortion of others from ANY healthcare coverage!


45 posted on 12/09/2012 6:22:12 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: All
Regnum Christi

Prepare the Way of the Lord!
| SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY
Second Sunday of Advent



Father Steven Reilly, LC

Luke 3:1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert. John went proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah: A voice of one crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, you know the sincerity of my desire to spend this time with you. As I begin this meditation, I believe that you are here with me, that you never abandon me. Because I love you, my one wish is to please and console you in your solitude in the tabernacle. I hope in the boundless mercy that motivated your incarnation. May we one day meet again in your heavenly kingdom.

Petition: Give me the grace to renew my Advent preparation.

1. The Concrete History: Today’s Gospel contains a veritable roster of First Century Palestinian big-names, both religious and political. Why? St Luke wants to emphasize that God’s marvelous deeds do not happen in a vacuum, but in the concrete reality of history. The greatest of God’s interventions, the Incarnation — when the Word became flesh — happened at a concrete time and place. This should have great impact on our spiritual lives. Jesus’ coming among us cannot be just an abstract idea that I learned in CCD. Jesus came to this world for ME! This overwhelming love calls forth a grateful response, unless I try to keep it at a safe distance. Jesus came to our world. Will I let him into mine?

2. A Voice Crying Out in the Desert: The ministry of John the Baptist was an important part of God’s plan to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah. He was very successful and opened many hearts to repentance and eventual faith in Jesus. So it is somewhat ironic that the phrase "crying out in the desert" usually refers to a noble but futile effort. That, unfortunately, could be the case now, if I am allowing the Holy Spirit’s inspirations to die in the “desert” of my self-absorption. Am I so wrapped up in the material side of Christmas preparation that I am forgetting the spiritual preparation?

3. "Prepare the Way of the Lord!" The memory of the Incarnation and the continuous prompting of the Holy Spirit in our hearts add up to the great program of Advent "Prepare the way of the Lord." We are called as Christians to do precisely this. Society is starving for the message of Christ. All of our prayers and work should be done with the spirit of faith, so that we are indeed preparing the way of the Lord.  

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, you came into our world, taking on our human condition. For too long, this has been just an idea for me. Let it sink into my heart and stir my will to action. You have loved me so much. I must return my love with concrete deeds. I recommit myself to fight for your Kingdom.

Resolution:  I will offer up three simple invocations spread throughout today, telling Jesus I love him and wish to prepare my heart to welcome him this Christmas.


46 posted on 12/10/2012 7:58:14 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: All
Our Journey in the Desert
Pastor’s Column
2nd Sunday of Advent
December 9, 2012
 
 
“Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
The winding roads shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth,
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God!”
Luke 3:5-6
 
 
 
          The first and third readings today almost sound like a big construction project, and in a way they are: valleys being filled in, mountains leveled, roads straightened, rough roads paved. What in the world is being described here? These reading sounds either irrelevant or hopelessly idyllic, but wait a moment.... These are all METAPHORS. The speaker is John the Baptist calling out from the desert. Let’s explore these spiritual places of the heart.
 
The desert: a place of testing, a place of trial and deprivation, of hunger and stark beauty, life and death. God often speaks in the desert places of our lives, when we have been purified by suffering or have experienced a loss, or a hunger for God. 
 
Valleys and mountains: Highs and lows. On the mountain we see clearly; we are exhilarated; we have achieved something; our path seems clear; the road ahead joyous. A mountain also indicates that the road to the top may be arduous and steep, difficult to climb and full of dangers and difficulties.
 
A valley:  During such times as these we are often sliding downhill or seem to be. The view is limited; the way gets darker; the path is unknown; we may be in sin or depression or suffering.... The valley often means suffering in scripture. Yes, we have been here too. 
 
The winding road: What does this represent?  Many switchbacks, goals that must be altered, the way seems unsure; we seem to be making little progress, we may be getting discouraged, we must travel slower than we wanted, life has brought us confusion. We may not know where we are going or if we are even on the right road at all, yet we keep going.
 
The rough road. It speaks for itself! Our life is anything but smooth; it seems we are coming apart.
 
God’s light will cut through all of this.... All of these things are only a part of the journey. It is precisely in these kinds of difficulties: arduous climbs, depressing descents, confusing switchbacks in our progress, rough patches...... Desert Experiences.....that we find that God is most active. Our journey of life is not meant to be a freeway, so much as a hike; not easy, but challenging. We have the Holy Spirit as our guide and the Church, through whom he speaks, to lead us until we reach our home. Such is our Advent and our life’s journey.
 
                                                                                          Father Gary

47 posted on 12/13/2012 7:37:55 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: All

http://resources.sainteds.com/showmedia.asp?media=../sermons/homily/2012-12-09-Homily%20Fr%20Gary.mp3&ExtraInfo=0&BaseDir=../sermons/homily


48 posted on 12/16/2012 7:59:30 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-48 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson