IInd Sunday of Advent.

II Sunday Advent: Is11:1-10; Ps72:1,2,7,8,12,13,17; Rm 15:4-9;Mt 3:1-12

Leonardo da Vinci painted the fresco (wall painting), "The Last Supper," in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan (1495-1498). A very interesting story is associated with this painting. At the time that Leonardo painted "The Last Supper," he had an enemy who was a fellow painter. Da Vinci had had a bitter argument with this man and despised him. When Da Vinci painted the face of Judas Iscariot at the table with Jesus, he used the face of his enemy so that it would be present for the ages as the man who betrayed Jesus. He took delight while painting this picture in knowing that others would actually notice the face of his enemy on Judas. As he worked on the faces of the other disciples, he often tried to paint the face of Jesus, but couldn't make any progress. Da Vinci felt frustrated and confused. In time he realized what was wrong. His hate for the other painter was holding him back from finishing the face of Jesus. Only after making peace with his fellow-painter and repainting the face of Judas was he able to paint the face of Jesus and complete his masterpiece. Be reconciled with God and fellow-human beings: that is the message of today’s gospel.
"Prepare the way of the Lord." He fearlessly scolds the Pharisees for receiving his baptism for appearances' sake only. Give evidence that they mean to reform their lives so as to recognize and accept the promised Messiah. He challenges them to repentance, conversion and renewal of life.
He tells the common people, who are filled with the expectation that the Messiah is near, to act with justice and charity, letting their lives reflect the transformation that will occur when the Messiah enters their lives.
Everyone who wants to experience this “reign of God" needs to make a radical change in his or her life. The Sadducees and Pharisees and many of the people John spoke to, thought they were entitled to the Kingdom of God simply because they were Jewish. “Stop making presumptions,” the Baptist warns them. We cannot come under the sovereign rule of God without a change of attitude, a change of heart and a change of lifestyle. John not only denounced men for what they had done; he summoned them to what they ought to do.
We have been brought into the sacred through the Merciful Gift of God that is our baptism. When we refuse to live our faith, we are treating our baptism as a mere ritual act. Repentance is a daily experience that renews our baptism. Repentance for us is not a one-time action, but must take place daily, because preparing for the Lord is a perpetual task. It is being open to the grace of God to transform ourselves.

The vision of Isaiah that “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:6) means that there is going to be a radical change at the coming of the Messiah. Some people would say it is impossible for the cow and the bear to graze, and lie down together; or for a lion to eat straw like the ox. (11:7) The wolf can never live in peace with the lamb because it is in the nature of the wolf to eat the lamb.” Of course a radical transformation of our human nature is required for that. We need a completely new heart. This radical transformation of human nature is possible only by God’s grace. One who is born and living in Christ will grow to that radical change of nature.
Grace transforms nature. God’s grace transforms human nature so radically that one needs to experience it to believe it. Grace working in nature accomplishes so much more than we could ever imagine.
Only when transformed by grace, is it possible for the wolf to live in peace with the lamb. Only then can the ferocious animals learn to accept their weaker colleagues as equals who have an equal right to life and well-being. And only then can the weaker animals learn to trust the ferocious ones and forgive and forget all the violence they had been made to suffer in the past.
Note that Isaiah is not talking here of “tolerating” or putting up with” the other. The peace of this new world order is not merely an absence of war or friction. No. It is a peace of harmonious live-and-let-live based on justice and the mutual recognition that everyone has got the right not only to life but also to the good life. It is only when the lion and the wolf give up their “natural privileges” and begin to eat grass like the cow that one can truly say that “all animals are equal.” As long as some animals lay claim to being “more equal” than others there can be no justice and no peace.
In our personal and business life do we consciously or unconsciously operate on the principle that for us to win, someone else has to lose? If so then the grace of God has not been able to work in us to transform us. The vision of the new world order to which the prophets invite us today is founded on the principle that we can all be winners.

For many people conversion to Jesus means going to Church and doing religious rituals. Conversion is more than that. John says, “Produce good fruit as evidence of repentance.” We produce the fruits of conversion when we grow from rituals to relationship. The ultimate purpose of repentance is building bridges with one another. And going to meet others more than half way, is a means to meet Christ on Christmas. Paul exhorts the Church of Rome the same thing. The reason for reaching out to the other is the mystery of incarnation. Human body becomes the dwelling place of God. This is our common ground.
Harmonious co-existence is possible when every person lives the threefold Christ-principle: Mutual acceptance, Mutual respect, Mutual promotion. For this to take place we may have to put an ax to resentments and biases rooted in our hearts. We may have to winnow our greed and overindulgence, and we may have to burn the chaff of our impatience.

On this second Sunday of Advent, let us ask ourselves these questions. Do I perform the works of proper conversion ? Do I accept others as they are? Do I respect their rightful place and position in the community? Do I give the other what is due to him/her? Let’s show to the Lord and the Christian community that we are serious with our conversion.