This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
2nd Sunday of AdventWaiting with U Turn…..!Is 11:1-10, Rom 15:4-9, Matt3:1-12Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus, I welcome you all to this Eucharistic Celebration on the second Sunday of Advent. We come to the altar every time with various thoughts, different expectations and multiple petitions. We pray and look for things to happen soon here and now, instead of building the relationship and contact in encountering Jesus in the Eucharist. We shall consciously communicate and relate with one another and to Jesus who is the Hero at every Eucharist we celebrate.There was an interesting abbreviation I saw recently for ATM, with additional change. That is ATEM : All time Empty. We wait long hours outside ATM not knowing when it will be empty. We wait outside Bank to withdraw our own money. We wait more than half a day for our wives at Sarvana, Pothys or Jayachandran stores. We wait anxiously to get our RAC or WL status into confirmed seat. We wait restlessly to meet the manager, the principal and Paris Priests. We wait to receive our medical results and our interview results. We wait at bus stop, at lights, at shopping mall or market. We wait for flower to bloom and plant to offer fruit. We wait for the wound to be healed We wait for baby to be born, waiting…waiting….waiting. If our waiting period becomes long, we get worried, anxious, angry, restless and upset. Because, we don’t want to wait. We are not ready to wait. We want things to happen now here and there. We wish to have everything with one touch immediately and instantly. Touch screen culture, one touch technology and remote control world make us slave to these things. The sad thing is if we don’t get things done and our favors are not granted instantly, we decide that it will not be offered at all. We put an end with hopelessness. If a couple don’t get a child after their year of marriage, their life is dead, such are the attitude we carry in our minds. Advent is a story of waiting from something to something more. Advent speaks about the history of waiting actively. In our first reading today, we are exposed to the people of Israel who were almost given up waiting. Because, the divided Israel and Juda kingdoms were not faithful to Yahweh and fallen to the pagan practices. They had been captured by other rulers such as Assyrian. Isaiah is sent to them in that situation to speak this oracle of hopeful tree and oneness. The separated People of God, felt their glorious times with the kings, David, Solomon and others. Though they longed and desired for king like David to restore their life promised by the Covenant, they were not willing to wait. They decided that it is a dead hope as our life is dead and God will not give possible king as David dynasty and family tree is cut off. Isaiah offers the words of Yahweh saying, “the sprout will come from the stump of Jesse of Bethlehem. Jesse was the father of David.” It is affirmed that the Messiah will rise with life to give life from the dead family tree of Jesse the father of David. You are called to wait actively with hope to experience fullness of life with Messiah. The active waiting from their hopeless thought is a U turn they were asked to make by the prophet Isaiah. The symbolic scene of all animals together at peace without harming invites us to look for that oneness with the entry of Messiah. In the gospel, we have the last prophet of the OT and the only Prophet of NT John The Baptist. He is well aware of the unfaithful and impure sacrifice of People and their leaders. The ritualistic influence of Pharisees, scribes and Sadducees took the faith of the people away through their imperfect wounded animals sacrifice. John invites them to look and wait for the fulfillment of convenient through the coming of Messiah. They need to make this U turn, this U turn is possible only through their radical conversion and repentance. So he calls them to be cleansed in the Jorden River. He called them to dip, immerse and willingly to go through the process of purification. John was called the immerser. His dressing and food habits reflected the life of Prophet Elijah. What is the U turn we need to make? What is the purifying process from we are called today? From where to where we are invited to look for and desire for? We shall examine today. If our average age is 70 years then we only wait just 3 years in those 70 years. It is true that waiting is fearful and uncertain still to have hope is a U turn waiting. I have interviewed many transplant persons. They time of waiting for their organ was really a moment of test and challenge. Mrs. Cathrine said, Initially I used to write today may be my day to get my new heart, but day by day my hope was dwindling, I was refusing to wait then I read the gospel of Luke then I wrote every day, let this be God’s day for me, then My waiting became active with this U turn. Gospel of waiting is Luke where Zachariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon and Anna were waiting for something good to happen. They were told “be not afraid”. Their open ended waiting kept their hope and life alive and meaningful. So they were privileged to carry Messiah in their hand. We shall make our U turn and have open ended waiting from one to another. Endless hope be our thought, attitude and our approach this week-Amen. 
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