Week 2 – Preparation and Peace
Second Sunday of Advent – December 4, 2022
In the second week of Advent, we relight the candle of Expectation and Hope and light the candle of Preparation and Peace. This candle reminds us of the quiet confidence those who trust in Christ can live in, knowing that the best is yet to come.
- Scripture – Malachi 3:1-4
“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight–indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.” - Scripture Reflection
The coming of the Messiah was foretold hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth. It was also foretold that the Messiah would be preceded by a herald, a messenger who would prepare the way of the Lord’s anointed one. All of the Old Testament Prophets pointed to a day when God would set all things right, when justice would roll down like water and mercy like an overflowing stream. It’s what the prophet Isaiah called “the Day of the Lord,” and how one would experience the coming of the Day of the Lord was dependent on how one’s life and will had been aligned with the will of God. God’s holiness is like a refiner’s fire – it destroys all that is impure, and only the righteous can stand before Him. But, by the blood of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit, even the most wicked sinner can be cleansed and made righteous. The call to repentance, to prepare for this coming, demonstrates God’s compassion and love for his children; that He does not want us to be caught unawares. Just as John the Baptizer came “crying in the wilderness” with the message to “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” and offering the cleansing of a baptism of repentance, so too does the church today serve as the herald of Jesus’ second coming. Prepare your hearts and you lives for the coming of God’s Anointed One, and accept the Peace He offers through complete surrender of your heart and life to Jesus Christ. - Prayer
Most Holy and Just God,
Send out your Holy Spirit among us today, that we might be able to stand
and be made ready to live in the eternal and victorious Kingdom of Heaven. We ask that every heart would be Prepared through Christ for the Day of the Lord and receive the offer of Peace through total surrender to Him as Lord.
Through him, with your Holy Spirit, in your holy church, we pray.
Amen.