Two-Minute Homily by Fr Ihemelandu Uzuegbu for the Second Sunday of Advent 2023.
“To become the people God wants us to be, we need to open our hearts to Jesus, to be transformed and filled with grace.”
- Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Two-Minute Homily Transcript
Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane
“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying in the desert. Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Dear friends, on this second Sunday of Advent, the Messianic prophecy in the first reading is echoed in the voice of John the Baptist.In the gospel of today, like the Israelites of old we are exiled from our relationship with God due to our sins and rebellion against God. As a result, there are deserts and uneven-rough places in us that need to be cleared and made plain. The desert can be the void and emptiness in us. And the rough places can be any place where there is need and where our Lord Jesus and his words are not present. It might be the difficult relationships in our family, our place of work, among our friends.
To become the people God wants us to be, we need to open our hearts to Jesus, to be transformed and filled with grace. Like people in the gospel who subjected themselves to baptism and confessed their sins when they heard the voice of John the Baptist, we too must respond to Jesus’ call to come to Him and be healed. We have to let the love of Christ to enter the desert of hatred and prejudices in us, humility to displace our pride and our life and the life-giving words to prune that which is stubborn in us. Advent season calls on us to think not just of Christmas, but of repentance and of the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of time. May His coming find us spotless and at peace. Amen! Have a beautiful day!