Celebrating the Advent season: Week two focuses on peace

Celebrating the Advent season: Week two focuses on peace

Sunday, Dec. 1, marked the beginning of the Advent season, a four-week period of preparation and anticipation leading up to the Christmas holiday and the new liturgical year. For the next three weeks, Dr. Dan Scholz, director of the Catholic Schools and Parishes Initiative, and Rev. Ryan G. Duns, S.J., chair and associate professor of theology, will provide personal reflections on each week focusing on hope, peace, joy and love.

In this second week of Advent, Scholz focuses on a message of peace:

The readings for the second Sunday of Advent offer a message of peace not only for ancient Israel and the earliest Christians, but also for us today as members of the Marquette University community.

You may recall last Sunday the first reading was from the prophet Jeremiah, active in the southern kingdom of Judah in 7th century and 6th century B.C. Today's first reading is from Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe. We hear the ending of the poem Baruch wrote to the Israelites who were held captive in Babylon, nearly 1,000 miles east of their homeland. It is meant to bring comfort to the exiled Israelites: "Jerusalem: take off your robe of mourning and misery - you will be named by God forever: the peace of justice, the glory of God's worship." Baruch offers a divine promise of peace to a people suffering through chaos and turmoil.

In the second reading, we hear an excerpt from the opening prayer of thanksgiving to God that Paul writes to his beloved community in the city of Phillipi. Paul expresses his gratitude for their partnership and mutual support and asserts: "I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus." As Christians, we are invited to embrace a peace of mind in knowing that God has a plan unique to each one of us that he works throughout the course of our lives.

The Gospel reading for each second Sunday of Advent focuses on John the Baptist. Luke informs us that John's preaching began in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar. Tiberius was the second emperor of the Roman Empire and ruled 14-37 A.D. So, according to Luke, John began his public ministry in 29 A.D. The Gospels' writers are consistent in framing John's message as "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" and locating John geographically in the desert (like Moses), invoking memories of the first Exodus from slavery. John's message seems to be that Israel remained enslaved by sin and what was needed was a new Exodus. In describing John the Baptist, Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-5 ("A voice of one crying out in the desert…"), taking readers back to the Babylonian Exile when Isaiah pronounced the exile was coming to an end and God was coming to rescue them from their sins. John was calling the Jewish nation to be reconciled with God and with each other as the only true path to peace and ultimate salvation.

The readings for the second Sunday of Advent offer members of our own Marquette University community who are yearning for peace three important lessons. First, God is very much present in our daily struggles and trials, promising a brighter day ahead. Second, God is orchestrating a present and future for each of us designed for our greater good. Third, reconciliation with God and with each other is our best path forward as we pray for peace in our world and in our lives.

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