Christ the Cornerstone

Patience and hard work prepare us for the Lord’s coming

“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths’ ” (Mk 1:2-3).

The Second Sunday of Advent heightens our sense of anticipation at the same time that we are told to be patient. Christ will come again, but God’s time is not our time. Our responsibility is to wait patiently, making sure that we are ready for the advent of grace in our lives which will come when we least expect it.

The first reading, from Isaiah (Is 40:1-5, 9-11), is both welcome and unsettling. It assures us that we will be comforted, but it also challenges us to do the hard work of preparing a highway for the Lord:

“Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins” (Is 40:1-2).

“A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Is 40:3-5).

St. Mark’s Gospel (Mk 1:1-8) applies Isaiah’s words to St. John the Baptist, the prophet who preached a baptism of repentance and who prepared the way for the long-awaited Messiah. John is a key figure in our observance of Advent. He challenges us to be transparent and penitent as we ready ourselves spiritually for the transforming grace of Christ.

The second reading, from the Second Letter of St. Peter (2 Pt 3:8-14), counsels us to be patient at the same time that it warns us that Christ’s coming will be unexpected:

“Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,” but he is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and the earth and everything done on it will be found out” (2 Pt 8-10).

The Lord is patient with us. He is willing to wait for us to acknowledge our sins and to take appropriate action. But we dare not wait too long for he will come like a thief and take us by surprise.

Patience is never easy, but after many months of hardship caused by a pandemic that has caused so much illness, loss of life, social unrest and economic uncertainty, we are understandably impatient. We long for an end to this crisis. We hope for a return to some kind of normalcy in our daily lives.

As Christians, we know that the only real source of hope and salvation is Jesus. He has promised to return to us and to bring us peace. But he has also warned us that his peace can be disturbing because it means we must change our selfish ways and live according to the Law of Love.

The need to prepare for Christ’s coming brings us back to St. John the Baptist. St. Mark tells us that “John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey” (Mk 1:6). His message was simple and self-effacing: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:7-8).

John spent his entire life getting ready for the coming of our Savior. His methods of fasting and repentance may be too severe for most of us, but we understand why he has challenged us to live simply and wait in joyful hope for the return of our Redeemer. We have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, and our longing is for the fulfillment of the promises that were made when we first surrendered ourselves to the One who is mightier than we are.

Let’s wait patiently this Advent, but let’s also channel our impatience, devoting it to the hard work of repentance and new life in Christ. †