Second Sunday of Advent
Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Pe 3:9).
Enslaved in sin, separation from God, we perish (Is 59:2). Sinfulness, hidden within our minds, darkens our wills, weakens our resolves, and we easily succumb to the test—temptations—for we lack restraint. We become submissive, obeying every craving. Desperate though empty, others use and abuse us. Slave masters come and dominate our minds, bodies, souls, and spirit. Cursed and condemned, the tentacles of sin bind us. Foolishly, many embrace their slavery to sin, deceived by the diversions, amusements, and recreations offered. Blinded by these deceptive delights, we engross ourselves in the superficial, artificial, and trivial instead of opening our eyes to the vistas off on the horizon enticing us to break free.
St. Peter’s letter, warning the Christians of false prophets, reminds us of Noah, seeking righteousness, did not perish in the flood because he saw the future, a new creation. Lot too did not perish in the fire and brimstone that annihilated Sodom and Gomorrah, but was saved through the righteousness of Abraham, our Father in Faith (2 Pet 2) who believed in the unfathomable promise. He and his wife, elderly, would conceive and bear a son, his only son. Moses, as well, did not perish in Egypt, but fled after committing murder only to return. Called by God to lead Israel out of their Egyptian slavery, he could not see beyond the Red Sea, but God opened a way, leading them out. This was the great Exodus in which God saves his people leading them into the desert only to make mountains low and rugged ways plain. In the desert, through the sea, “the Glory of the Lord is revealed” (Is 40:5). All three did not perish, but thrived for they saw the way, the Exodus. Perishing, God intervened and led them out of their slavery into freedom.
St. Paul knew this too. Writing to the Corinthians, a city filled with corruption and perversion, tells them that they did not perish because of their grief over their sinfulness rather “You were grieved into repenting” (2 Co 7:9).
Repentance, a radical reorientation towards sin, entails “a conversion to God with all our heart, an end of sin, a turning away from evil, with repugnance toward the evil actions we have committed” (CCC 1431). Repentance is the way out, an Exodus, by which we break both the exterior and interior chains enslaving us. The Exodus, that miraculous act which freed the people from their Egyptian Masters, became the battle cry of Isaiah. He saw his people once again enslaved, not in slave labor but in spiritual slavery. They lost their vision of their God and worshipped falsely, serving the idols of their slavery. So, he tells them,
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow (Is 1:16–17).
Knowing Israel received double for all her sins, Isaiah tells them to repent and believe in the promise: a new Exodus, because your “guilt is expiated” (Is 40:2).
Your sins have been forgiven. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, (Is 11:1–2).
God comes to comfort—give strength—to his people for He comes as a breath, the Ruah, that restores peace. God’s Spirit, breathing forth new life, reveals a new vision, a world of peace and justice, righteousness and holiness, a world filled with “joy in the Spirit” (Rom 14:17). God’s Holy Spirit rends the heavens, reigns down his justice, and restores the righteousness of his people.
The Spirit trains us for battle, not the battle between peoples, but the battle within our heart. Our hearts unclean and divided, yet the Spirit of the Lord comes, inspiring us to return to the Lord with all our heart because “He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Joe 2:12–13). He forgives evil for “I am He (Yahweh) who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Is 43:25). The Spirit Himself comes "to prepare the way of the Lord” (Is 40:3), to free his people, to turn their scarlet sins into the whiteness of snow (Is 1:18).
Freed from our raging desires, the Israelites, as do we, freely worship God, faithfully, and totally singing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Is 6:3). This prayer breaks the chains, enlightens the darkness, and transforms our vision. God’s glory fills my soul. So I sing!
The weight of God’s glory comes, radiant, brilliant, glowing as a dazzling light breaking the chains of sin and sadness, filling the soul with gladness and joy, healing our wounded hearts with love and forgiveness. Mercy and forgiveness are arrows that pierce the hardness of our hearts. Jeremiah foretold that our hearts of stone would become hearts of flesh. Jesus comes in the Spirit and fulfills the prophecies proclaiming:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Lk 4:18–19).
His Spirit touches our hearts revealing his power to change our ways. No longer shackled, we, as did Moses, walk through the raging sea, seeing the horizon of the new creation. Repentance, that exodus from sin, feels the sorrow for our sinfulness, yet it melts the chains that enslave us, soothes our burning desires, and comforts us in our woundedness. Repentance changes the heart, a metanoia, creates catharsis, the purging of our sinfulness. Purged, we flourish. Sin no longer enslaves but God’s grace strengthens us. This is the new exodus, our exodus, by which we leave behind the old ways and become a new person in Christ.
St. Peter, having his heart wounded, pierced with his betrayal, had to repent, less he perish. Understanding the power of true repentance, he encourages conversion rather than enslavement, explaining,
The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (2 Pe 3:9).
When we sincerely repent, have a conversion of heart, we trust in his promise to save us lest we perish. Conversion feels the pains of sin; yet as Jesus in the garden was sorrowful unto death, He tells us “Remain here, and watch with me” (Mt 26:38). We watch and wait confidently, knowing Christ’s love, slow to anger and rich in mercy, saves us from perishing in our slavery.
Commenting on repentance, Madam Guyon reveals, “Nothing brings more honor to God than after a fall to have sorrow filled with hope” (Madam Guyon commentary on Matthews Gospel Matt 26:14-16). Repentance is the grace, that intense holy flame of fire: the Pentecost, purifies us. In this grace, we do not perish, but flourish knowing that nothing will ever separates us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:39).