Commentary for Sunday: 6th December

Sunday, 6 December 2020 (2º Advent).
Mark 1, 1-8:

 

This Sunday the figure of John the Baptist appears in the Word of God, calling us to change our lives. He announces that someone is coming who is more important than he is. He asks us to prepare the way for the Lord. Then everyone will see God’s salvation. It is a proclamation and a call to hope, to trust in the promises announced by God, which are going to become a reality. But we need to have a positive and expectant attitude.

But we live so well, so comfortably (despite the pandemic), that any change in our lives is looked upon with suspicion. In this we are very conservative. We say that we are good, that we do no harm to anyone, that we comply… Aren’t these simply excuses for doing nothing? If we look deep into our hearts, being honest with ourselves, we will always find “paths to smooth, twisted paths to straighten”.

The Gospel tells us that many Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized by John, and that he rebuked them with very strong words, because they had to bear the fruits that conversion required. We too must show our conversion with concrete actions, so that when “he who comes after me” comes, he will baptize us with the Holy Spirit and we will be “wheat gathered into his barn”.

May our waiting during Advent make us grow in hope and expectation, for the Saviour is very near.

 

Juan Ramón Gómez, cmf

 

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