Today, our hearts are drawn to reflect on another theme of preparation for the coming of the Lord. It is a call to hope, patience, and repentance. It resonates with the voice crying for us to prepare a way for the Lord and make his path straight, as noted by the prophet Isaiah and reemphasized in Mark’s gospel. Let us see through the scriptures the significance of hope, patience, and repentance in our journey of faith and preparation for the Lord’s coming.
In the first reading, we hear the call to hope. Isaiah speaks words of comfort to a people in exile. He declares a message of hope, assuring them that their sins have been forgiven and the time of God’s redemption is at hand. “Prepare the way of the Lord” is a call to hope, inviting the people to anticipate the coming of the Lord’s salvation, a time of restoration.
In the second reading, we hear the call to patience through St. Peter’s address on God’s timing. People may get impatient as we wait and prepare for the Lord’s coming. So, Peter reminds us that, to God, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The delay in Christ’s return is not a sign of forgetfulness but an expression of God’s patience, desiring that all should come to repentance.
That brings us to the next call, which we find in the gospel reading – The call to repentance. St. Mark began his gospel with the story of John the Baptist’s ministry, who was preparing the people for the Lord’s coming by calling them to repentance for the coming of the Messiah. He urged them to turn away from sin as he baptised them and to make room for the Lord, who will baptise them with the Holy Spirit.
As we have lit the second candle of Advent, which signifies faith, our faith calls us to hope in the salvation of our God, to trust in God always as we patiently wait on Him, and to repentance for the many times we have wronged God and one another. May we be fully prepared, with our paths straight, and clearly see the Lord who comes to save us.