“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy” (Psalm 126).

On this Second Sunday of Advent, the first reading from the book of the prophet Baruch speaks of the dignity that is about to be restored to the city of Jerusalem as those who had been exiled are about to return to the city. The prophet had witnessed the humiliation of Jerusalem, as it had been captured by the Babylonians, and its people were carried off into the Babylonian exile in the years 587-588 B.C.. For the Jewish people, to lose the city of Jerusalem and to be carried away from it was to lose that holy place where they were to encounter and live with God in their midst. God had given them this city and land as a place for them to be His people and live in His presence. The exile from Jerusalem was not unlike the exile from the Garden of Eden experienced by Adam and Eve when they turned away from God through sin. Carried away from Jerusalem, the Jewish people were carried away from the city in which they encountered God in the His Temple. As the prophet speaks about this longed for return to God’s Holy City for the Jewish people, Baruch also speaks about the manner in which God will fill in the valleys of hardship that the people have experienced and make everything as though it had been a smooth plain. This is to state that God’s love will fill up all the voids and hardships that His people had suffered through this time of exile. With God’s love and mercy, all will be well.

The joy that the Jewish people experience as a result of the merciful God restoring them to the city that He had given them is expressed in today’s Psalm response. The people who are returning to the city sing: “The Lord has done good things for us; we are filled with joy.” They are recounting all of the good things that God has done for them. These good things are not just restricted to their return to the holy city of Jerusalem. The good things are all that God had done for them. These include them many good gifts God had given, which are recounted in the Hebrew Scriptures, like creation, the call of the people of Israel, God’s saving action as He led them out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land, and as He leads them back from the Babylonian Exile. In fact, this hymn of praise is one that could be on the lips of all of God’s people, both Hebrew and Christian, as it reminds us of the reality that everything we have from God is a gift. Even when humanity sins against God and turns their back to Him, He is all merciful and kind. His loving kindness smooths out our errors and sins and makes the approach back to him level and secure.

This Second Sunday of Advent falls on December 8, a day on which the Church normally celebrates the Immaculate Conception. As the Sundays of Advent take precedence, the celebration of the Immaculate Conception is transferred and will be celebrated on Monday, December 9th at our parish’s 8:00 am Mass. In a certain way, the Immaculate Conception announced that humanity’s exile from God was about to come to and end. Since Adam and Eve had committed the Original Sin in the Garden of Eden, the communion that God had originally bestowed upon humanity had been lost and we had been exiled from God. Original Sin had resulted in a loss of humanity’s communion with God. In order for humanity to be restored to its dignity, God would have to do something special so that we could once again be re-established in communion with His love and grace. By a special act of grace and mercy, God spared Mary the stain of Original Sin that the rest of humanity had inherited, and graced her to be conceived in the same state of communion with Him that had existed between Himself and Adam and Eve at creation. Mary was conceived, through the same natural act by which all humans are conceived, between her parents Joachim and Anna; however, by an act of God’s grace, she was not conceived with the stain of Original Sin. This would allow her to be the mother of the Lord and to enjoy a privileged relationship of grace with God that would become available to all of humanity through the birth of Christ and His life, death and resurrection. What God does for each of us in Baptism, He did for Mary in advance so that all of us could be saved. In the same way that the people of Israel sang for joy as they returned to live with God in His Holy City, the news of the Immaculate Conception should lead all of us to sing: “The Lord has done good things for us; we are filled with joy.”

Everything that the Church celebrates in Mary, we celebrate because it announces and demonstrates what the Lord wishes to do for each of us through Baptism and a life lived in communion with the Holy Trinity through Christ. As Mary was graced to be born without sin through the Immaculate Conception, so too through Baptism we share in Christ’s death and resurrection and are freed from Original Sin. Mary’s assumption into heaven points to the heavenly destiny that God has prepared for us in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Her Queenship indicates that we too, if we live a life of faithful communion with God, are called to share in His Kingdom. As the Church says so beautifully, all we celebrate in Mary is what we hope to become through a life lived in communion with Christ and the Holy Trinity.

The role that God assigns to John the Baptist in His plan of salvation is to call all of us to repent and to be Baptized into the faith that will set us free and restore us to our lost dignity. John the Baptist announces that the Christ is coming. For us who live in the days after His first coming, and awaiting His second coming at the end of time, the words of John the Baptist are a call to be ready by turning away from sin so that Christ may be encountered in our lives today. Like the Good News of the coming liberation for the people of Jerusalem, John informs us that we too can be free from sin by repenting and turning back to God. For those not yet baptized, that freedom can be found in turning to Christ and being baptized. Our community is blessed to have a number of people in the RCIA preparing to be baptized this coming Easter. For those of us who are baptized and awaiting the Lord’s coming, the Sacrament of Reconciliation gives us the opportunity to turn away from sin and return to the graced life that the Lord wishes us to enjoy as His children.

The reality that growth in the spiritual life can take time and require effort is spoken of in today’s second reading as St. Paul writes to the people of the city of Philippi: “I am confident in this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Because of the compassion that God has, Paul is hopeful that the people who have turned to Christ, through God’s mercy, will be found pure and blameless on the day of His coming. As John the Baptist also tells those whom he is calling to repentance about the mercy of God he states: “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6). It is because God is merciful that we are to have the courage to heed John the Baptist’s call to repentance. The merciful God who desires that we all be saved on the day of His coming invites us to be ready by turning away from sin and seeking forgiveness through repentance today.

For those of us who are baptized, this call to repentance is best embraced by celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Advent is a wonderful time to celebrate this sacrament of God’s love and mercy. As we do so, God’s mercy makes straight our crooked ways and fills in for what has been lacking in our own efforts of discipleship. The Sacrament of Reconciliation restores us to communion with God and prepares us to live joyfully the communion He offers us in this life so that we may be ready for Him when He comes. Those who celebrate this wonderful sacrament know well what it is to sing those words: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”

In order that we might have access to God’s saving mercy in this privileged season of Advent, throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto, many parishes are having a Day of Confessions. These times and dates can be accessed on the Archdiocesan website. Our parish’s Day of Confession will be on Saturday, December 21 from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm. There will be a number of visiting priests here to assist. The Archdiocese has also prepared some beautiful preparation aides to help those who might not remember how to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. I have left them on the back table at the doors of the Church. Many people worry about what the priest will say to them if they have been away from the sacrament for several years or decades. Here at St. Peter’s, I can guarantee that all that will be said is: “Welcome and can I hep you to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation.” Please consider celebrating this sacrament in this season of Advent.

The people returning to Jerusalem sang for joy at their return to the City where they believed that they lived in God’s presence. This Advent, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we are invited to know the joy of the people who welcomed Christ’s first coming at Christmas; look forward to His second coming at the end of time; and are called to know that He is with us each day and calls us to encounter Him today. The Good News that Christ is always with us, and calling us to repent so that we may be with Him, should lead us to sing each day: “The Lord has done good things for us; we are filled with joy.”

Before concluding, I would like to also invite you to pray for our Archbishop this weekend, as he is in Rome with Pope Francis who has raised him to be a Cardinal. May God always bless Cardinal Leo in his ministry as our bishop.

May God bless us all in this Advent Season!

Fr. Michael McGourty,
Pastor, St. Peter’s Parish—Toronto, Ontario

This reflection based upon the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent- year C: Baruch 5:1-9; Psalm 126; Philippians 1: 3-6; 8-11; and Luke 3: 1-6.