Luke 3, 1-6:
Sunday, 5th December 2021 (2nd Advent C)
The Gospel of this Second Sunday of Advent begins by situating us in time, giving us the names of the people who governed the region in those days, so that we may be clear that both John the Baptist and Jesus are historical persons: In the fifteenth year of the emperor Tiberius… the Word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, who went through the whole region of the Jordan, preaching and calling us to a change in our lives. He asks us to prepare the way for the Lord: make his paths level, make straight the crooked, make the rough smooth… Then all will see the salvation of God. We need to change so that God becomes present in our lives and so that we can be a source of hope for those around us.
But we live so well, so comfortably, that any change in our lives is looked upon with suspicion. We are very conservative in this. We say that we are good, that we do no harm to anyone, that we comply… Are these not justifications for doing nothing? If we look deep down in our hearts, being honest with ourselves, we will always find “ways to be made level, crooked paths to be made straight”.
How good it would be if they could say of us what St. Paul says of his faithful Philippians. “May your community continue to grow more and more in penetration and sensitivity to appreciate values”. Then everyone would be able to see God’s salvation.
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
