“As the journey of Advent continues, as we prepare to celebrate the nativity of Christ, John the Baptist's call to conversion sounds out in our communities. It is a pressing invitation to open our hearts and to welcome the Son of God Who comes among us to make divine judgement manifest. The Father, writes St. John the Evangelist, does not judge anyone, but has entrusted the power of judgement to the Son, because He is the Son of man.

“And it is today, in the present, that we decide our future destiny. It is with our concrete everyday behavior in this life that we determine our eternal fate. At the end of our days on earth, at the moment of death, we will be evaluated on the basis of our likeness or otherwise to the Baby Who is about to be born in the poor grotto of Bethlehem, because He is the measure God has given humanity.

“Through the Gospel John the Baptist continues to speak down the centuries to each generation. His hard clear words bring health to us, the men and women of this day in which even the experience and perception of Christmas often, unfortunately, reflects materialist attitudes. The 'voice' of the great prophet asks us to prepare the way for the coming Lord in the deserts of today, internal and external deserts, thirsting for the water of life which is Christ.” — Benedict XVI

 

Commentary for the Readings from the 1962 Roman Missal:
Second Sunday of Advent
Jesus referred John as "My messenger" who prepared the "way". John now wanted his disciples to realize that they, too, must follow Christ in this "way". Only through the same Jesus Christ, the long expected Savior, will the "blind" of soul "see"; the "lame' of character "walk"; the "lepers" of sin become "cleansed"; the "poor" become rich with a new Gospel. (Red figures in picture indicate the blink, the lame, the leper.)

The Epistle points to these interior and social aspects of the "Christ" way: interiorly, by prayer, to "glorify" the Fatherhood of God; socially by our actions, to "receive one another" in the Brotherhood of Man, "even as Christ has received you."

--Excerpted from My Sunday Missal, Confraternity of the Precious Blood