Scripture Reflections for the Second Sunday of Advent

“But then along came Jesus, God living among his people on earth, showing us how we must behave if we are to bring about his kingdom, the reign of justice and peace on earth. We are to do, say and think as Jesus did.”

“God has this grand design and plan for us. He has this great vision on what our masterpiece will be.”

“We were created in the image of the Holy Trinity, needing the Holy Trinity – and Father, Son and Spirit have shown us Their eagerness to meet the need they gave us”

“In his monastic Rule, St Augustine notes how frequently pride steals in to ruin even good deeds”

“We can be the voice crying out to others who are lost in their own desert, showing them the light of Christ and that He is the answer, and He can bring them out of it”

“The modern mountains are made out of paper, or exist as ideas. They are immigration laws, passports, refugee allocation laws, employment regulations. Financial walls built up between countries, rules about the interchange of currency and debt policies, all these also act as our new mountains.”

"Friends, a couple years ago, there was a poll conducted in Great Britain that revealed that the majority of people there feel that Jesus was not a real, historical figure,..."

"Rev. Emily Hayes, minister at the Alice Springs Uniting Church (ASUC).The ASUC is a welcoming, growing and diverse community of people involved in many areas including prison ministry, youth services..."

"In our Gospel for today, Luke invokes the most significant cultural and political players of that time and place; but then, just as he did in the Christmas story, he..."

"Christianity is not a mythic system. It is an historical religion that makes very concrete historical claims, and the first Christians were intensely interested in the historicity of what they..."

"Everything in nature, culture, and the cosmos is passing away. Nothing here below finally lasts. Though certainly sobering, this is not, ultimately, bad news, for it orients us toward the..."

“As we survey what went wrong in our response to the pandemic, we can see that it is part of a larger pattern of powerful interests ignoring the cry of the poor and the Earth. We can see how we, too, are guilty of perpetuating this cycle.”

“Perhaps in Advent we can turn our thoughts first to God’s return to us, that he has returned to us in Christ, that he has begun our return within us, and that we wait for the return of Christ at the end of time and in the celebration of Christmas”

"The Holy Land is a place of contrasting landscapes, from fertile coastal plains to mountainous desert, in the midst of which lies the broad valley of the Jordan, flowing out..."

“we are invited just now to step aside, be still, focus on what truly matters. We are to hear and receive the Word that we might bear it. From hearers we are to become doers of the Word, displaying God’s compassion in our lives”

“Sadly, I think the penance, the preparation Advent most demands of us Christians these days is to learn anew to be joyful and to learn again to share our joy with others”

"The prophecy of Baruch finds its fulfillment in the revelation of Christ, who brings the troubled history of God’s people to its fulfillment and reveals God’s eternal purpose for Jerusalem,..."

"In our first reading for this week, we hear the prophet Baruch predicting the return of the children of Israel to Zion. God will level the mountains and fill in..."