Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection December 08, 2024
Second Sunday of Advent
08th December 2024 (Sunday)
Psalter: Week 2
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Baruch 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.
Psalm 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
R/. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Second Reading: Philippians 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 Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths: all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : 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 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.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Sunday – Second Sunday of Advent
Guidelines: What a powerfully comforting message of Advent it is! He is coming. Therefore, “Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, and put on the beauty of the glory from God”.
1. Our God is a God of joy, God of glory, and not of sadness or misery. He is a God of fidelity, a God of hope, and not of infidelity or hopelessness.
2. Therefore He assures and promises us joy and glory, putting off sorrow and pain, darkness and confusion.
3. In fact, the very purpose and destiny of life are joy, beauty, and glory. God wants our life to be beautiful and glorious.
4. Life can be beautiful, only when it is joyful. And life can be glorious, only when it is joyful and beautiful.
5. In fact, this is the real salvation, which God comes to give us, by coming as one of us and to be with us. The real salvation is this, that our life is a thing of joy, beauty, and glory, and not of misery and darkness. The choice is ours – to make our life a beauty or misery.
6. If this is salvation, if this is the aim and meaning of life, then how to achieve this aim? How to make our life such?
7. The Word of God offers us a clear program of life. We know that to achieve or accomplish anything in life, to gain any success, there is always some program of doing, some dynamics, some mechanisms, some requirements, some equipment.
8. For example, to reduce obesity, cut down the fat, regulate the diet, work on exercise; to make oneself fit and healthy, keep active and keep mentally free; to make oneself efficient and effective, get skilled, enhance the talents and nurture aptitudes.
9. In the same way, to attain that eternal joy, beauty, and glory with the Lord, we also need to do some work-outs, some controlling, some regulating, some restraining, some training.
10. Some of the concrete details of this journey of life are put before us from all three readings. There are:
11. Be converted, i.e. repent, do not continue without any reflection and realization; pause a while and take stock of the direction and the quality of life; make a positive turn in life.
12. Be dedicated, i.e. prepare the way of the Lord, and not the way of the world; do not block the way of the Lord, but make the things conducive to that way.
13. Be straight, i.e. make straight what is crooked.
14. Be smooth, i.e. make smooth what is rough; apply the gentle balm amidst what is rude and blunt.
15. Be humble, i.e. make low the high mountains and hills of pride and arrogance.
16. Be mature, i.e. fill up the valleys of weaknesses and defects.
17. Be balanced, i.e. level what is uneven, of disorder and disharmony.
18. Be educated really of heart, i.e. be with insight and divine knowledge.
19. Be wise and guided, i.e. decide and follow what is best.
20. Be loving, i.e. let love overflow more and more.
21. Be just, i.e. produce a harvest of goodness and fairness.
22. Be steady, i.e. walk in the light of the Lord.
23. Be holy, i.e. stand before God pure and blameless.
Practice: Let us know the Way – walk the Way – show the Way. Let us constantly liberate ourselves from the clutches of sin and evil, and experience the “saving” grace of salvation. Let us beautify and glorify our life, with real conversion and thus “enjoy” life!