{"id":5416,"date":"2022-12-01T22:33:24","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T21:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5416"},"modified":"2022-12-01T22:33:26","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T21:33:26","slug":"second-sunday-a-of-advent-mt-31-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=5416","title":{"rendered":"Second Sunday A of Advent Mt 3,1-12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Current challenge: Prepare the way for the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The call of John the Baptist is relevant even at the turn of the millennium<\/span><\/p>\n

. Do you realize how much information, messages, calls, and announcements we hear per year? What a year in one month! And in a week?\u00a0Even just for one day?\u00a0From television screens, radio receivers, magazines, and newspapers, from interviews, at home, at the workplace, and on the street, they directly attack and want to win us over to their side. How good that we know ourselves and can stop, think, consider things and events, reevaluate, and choose essential, important, and good things for ourselves. We know that it is not simple, easy, and sometimes unpleasant.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are also aware of this when listening to John the Baptist.\u00a0He says, \u201cRepent!\u00a0… Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight!\u00a0… Snake breed, who showed you how to escape the wrath to come!?\u00a0So bear fruit worthy of repentance!\u00a0… The ax is already laid on the roots of the trees…” (Mt 3,2.3.7-8).<\/span>
\nJohn the Baptist is the greatest preacher of Advent.\u00a0His words speak of the nearness of the expected and predicted Messiah.\u00a0He is a true Herod – herald of the Messiah.\u00a0Just as the words of Jesus Christ do not lose their relevance until the end of time, the terms of John the Baptist are still timeless. Those who responsibly approach their life’s advent find a souvenir for themselves in the character of J\u00e1n. The Gospel speaks of the forerunner of the Lord Jesus as a man of action.\u00a0He prepares the way for Jesus by ministering the baptism of repentance: not our sacramental baptism, which was instituted only by the Lord Jesus, further with his sermons on the change of life, return to God, and conscious repentance. He says it is not enough to base myself on the fact that I am a descendant of Abraham. John’s words are prophetic: “God can raise children to Abraham even from these stones” (Mt 3:9).\u00a0For the Jews, it is precisely the people from paganism who are such stones, but He,\u00a0who comes gifted with the Holy Spirit, can make them children of God.\u00a0John also points to the power with which this will happen: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3, 11).\u00a0By fire, he means God himself. God, in his love,e sends his Son to earth, who will remove all selfishness from human hearts. But for those who reject God’s love, who consciously and freely decide to remain chaff, the fire of love will become the fire of judgment: “… it will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12).\u00a0God is a purifying fire.\u00a0Whoever does not want to burn with the light of his love, that fire will burn for all eternity.\u00a0He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11).\u00a0By fire, he means God himself. God, in his love,e sends his Son to earth, who will remove all selfishness from human hearts. But for those who reject God’s love, who consciously and freely decide to remain chaff, the fire of love will become the fire of judgment: “… it will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12).\u00a0God is a purifying fire.\u00a0Whoever does not want to burn with the light of his love, that fire will burn for all eternity.\u00a0He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Mt 3:11).\u00a0By fire, he means God himself. God, in his love,e sends his Son to earth, who will remove all selfishness from human hearts. But for those who reject God’s love, who consciously and freely decide to remain chaff, the fire of love will become the fire of judgment: “… it will burn the chaff in unquenchable fire” (Mt 3:12).\u00a0God is a purifying fire.\u00a0Whoever does not want to burn with the light of his love, that fire will burn for all eternity.<\/span>
\nJohn’s words are a call to return to God.\u00a0The challenge is to change a life. The sight of John, his life, life story, words, and place by the Jorattractsract the inhabitants of distant Jerusalem and the entire vicinity of the Jordan. God is God’s sign for all.\u00a0The Pharisees and Sadducees also come, although he speaks most harshly to them.\u00a0He reminds them of their unbelief, the indifference with which they lead and teach the nation.\u00a0John lived as God asked him to.\u00a0He was a harsh lesson for all aware of their unfaithfulness to God. At the same time, he is a role model for changing life.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the baptism of repentance, many leave the Jordan changed.\u00a0Fixing life is possible.\u00a0Sinners change their lives.\u00a0They leave their sin.\u00a0Advent reminds us that it is only a preparation for death.\u00a0Expecting the coming of Christ into the world is a wider truth.\u00a0Our life and liturgical Advent, when we correctly listen and accept the words of John the Baptist, is in the renewal, reform and correction of life, but it must come from within us.\u00a0Change should take place within us and not require change only in the surroundings.\u00a0The challenge is about our relationship with God.\u00a0Changing our mindset should bring visible fruit to our lives.\u00a0The one who fears him and acts righteously is pleasing to God.\u00a0What kind of Advent would it be if we didn’t use it to change our lives in relation to God, our neighbor and ourselves?\u00a0It is right to experience Advent like those who left the Jordan determined not to live in sin any more.\u00a0We cannot speak of a Christian Advent that is not realized by a return to repentance through the confessional, and it is not a Christian Advent when it is not realized in a real return to God, a meeting with God, even if on the feast of the Nativity of the Lord Jesus we had the most beautiful tree, many gifts and even though we would sing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs.\u00a0Today is the time to start fulfilling the words of John the Baptist.\u00a0To distinguish his words from the words of false prophets, although we have been such prophets to ourselves or to others until now.\u00a0Let’s not blame the world around us, but let’s eliminate the evil in ourselves.\u00a0Why did even his enemies follow Jesus, those who could not agree with his behavior because of their public life?\u00a0Because John was not a prophet only with his mouth, but he was a prophet with his life.\u00a0And John will say about his relationship with Jesus, for whom he is preparing the way: “I am not worthy to carry his shoes” (Mt 3:11).\u00a0And wearing someone’s shoes meant being entirely at the service of the one to whom the shoes belonged.\u00a0In humility, John did not even feel worthy of that.\u00a0For repentance, correction, and return, the humility of the predecessor of the Lord Jesus, St.\u00a0John the Baptist.<\/span>
\nHe asks us to undertake the healing of our relationship with God.\u00a0This is how our physical and spiritual life will be healed, and our relationships with each other will also be healed. The cause of our unhappiness is our sin, which we commit consciously and voluntarily.\u00a0Leave the old way of living in sin and start the path to the Lord.\u00a0“Make his paths straight” (Mt 3:3) is a call to fulfill your duties faithfully. It is not enough to take commands only as a means of coercion but as a joyful response to God’s address to us. It is not enough to imitate the external way of life of St.\u00a0John when we do not adopt his interior, his attitude towards everything that God asks of us. The spirit of Advent is supposed to be joyful.\u00a0Not coercive.\u00a0After all, we are waiting for God, who alone can honestly give us what will enrich our life on earth and become a guarantee for eternal life.<\/span>
\nPope John XXIII. said: “There are two doors that lead to freedom, to paradise: innocence and repentance.” Who among us sinners would dare to open the door as an innocent?\u00a0However, they can be opened by repentance.\u00a0That is the surest way to freedom.<\/span>
\nBonh\u00f6ffer explains Advent with the words: “In a dungeon, the door can only be opened from the outside.”\u00a0Such a dungeon does not have to be built only of walls.\u00a0Illness can also be a prison from which there is no way out.\u00a0There is absolutely no door that we can open with our strength. There are events in life that cannot be avoided.\u00a0Profession, marriage, own abilities, or inabilities can become our prison. Before throwing himself under the train, I knew a young man who\u00a0wrote: “I didn’t see any other way out.” Advent can also be like this.\u00a0No option, no solution.\u00a0No one comes to open the door.<\/span>
\nIn our case, there is a solution; there is hope, and there is a possibility! We hear the words of John the Baptist.\u00a0They are addressed to us.\u00a0With God’s help and grace, we can do it. Advent lived with Christ is already time lived with Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

We know that a meeting can leave positive traces for a long time and a lifetime. Indeed, many contemporaries of the predecessor of the Lord Jesus recognized it. And so it is today when we open our hearts.\u00a0It is enough to pay more attention, see, listen, meet, change, return, and heal, which has touched us as young Miss Jarka.<\/span><\/p>\n

What were the difficulties with her in the family? She was already twenty, but she would need a maid.\u00a0Untidy with her things, indifferent to her surroundings, irresponsible with her duties, calculating and selfish… How much her parents and younger sister talked her down!\u00a0Only once – a change.\u00a0From a specific time, he can notice those around him. He even says thank you and asks if there is anything that needs help.\u00a0On Saturday, without anyone asking her, she started cleaning the apartment, not only her room, her things.\u00a0And do you know why?\u00a0What caused the change, correction, and healing in her life? She fell in love.\u00a0You found a boy.\u00a0And she invited him to their home for the first time on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have known liturgical Advent for two thousand years.\u00a0How old are we all ready? Let’s answer each other.\u00a0And how many Advents have we lived through?\u00a0Yes, we should be aware of the timeliness of the words of the Advent preacher St. John.\u00a0Order is the business card of human culture.\u00a0Loyalty to God is the most beautiful response we can give to God.\u00a0Get your ego in order.\u00a0A particular element of return is that we can discover the truth in our lives. When our faith is not only a holiday obligation but especially an inner conviction of love for the goal of our life, the\u00a0return will be realized when we accept Christ, who alone can mobilize our forces. Therefore, we recognize that the words of John the Baptist are a personal matter for each of us.\u00a0Returning means living your life with Jesus every day.\u00a0To make everyday day pleasing to God and worthy of yourself. It is only possible if\u00a0our Christian thinking is by the call of St. John the Baptist.\u00a0A Christian’s heart is not to be treated for lack of love.\u00a0Advent is a time of waiting for love.\u00a0He who waits for nothing is already dead.\u00a0On the gate of Hell, Dante wrote: \u201cGive up hope!\u00a0There is eternal death.” Advent is the hope that we will respond to the call in accordbyords and implement them in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Has such an incident happened to you?\u00a0You were sitting on a train at a railway station next to another train.\u00a0You were waiting to leave.\u00a0Finally, it moves slowly and silently.\u00a0After a few seconds, you’re in doubt and wondering which train is going.\u00a0Yours or the one on the sidelines?\u00a0What will you do at that moment to find out the truth?\u00a0It is simple.\u00a0Just look at something fixed that isn’t moving, like a tree or a house.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, it is necessary to find a fixed point to find out the fact.\u00a0We can also use this principle on our journey through Advent.\u00a0John the Baptist is a fixed point in our life and liturgical Advent.\u00a0A look at him and our realization of his words in our life will tell us whether we are following Jesus or still standing, trampling in one place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our life is often compared to travel.\u00a0We also hear or see many challenges at airports and platforms.\u00a0It is fitting that we can distinguish which belongs to us and to which we can respond promptly and appropriately. What is a year, month, or week in history? But even one day means a lot in our life.\u00a0One day, one hour, and one minute. That year’s Advent will never happen again.<\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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