12 December 2025 – Friday of the 2nd week of Advent
Homily
In the first chapters of his Gospel, Saint Luke draws a parallel between Jesus and His precursor John. Thus, the account of the announcement made to Zechariah of the birth of John the Baptist is entirely parallel to the account we read of the announcement made to Mary of the birth of Jesus, which we read on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. In the passage from Matthew's Gospel that we have just read, Jesus himself draws this parallel between himself and John. John the Baptist therefore occupies a very special place in the Gospel, and likewise in the liturgy of Advent.
John was very different from Jesus in his way of life and also very different in his teaching. And yet those who heard John's message were the same ones who heard Jesus' message; and those who rejected John's message were also those who rejected Jesus' message. The problem, therefore, was neither in the messenger nor in the message, but in the listeners.
The same is true of us when we are deaf to God's message. We may blame the message for not being suited to our character or culture. We may blame the messengers who bring us the message, finding that they do not know how to convey it to us in an intelligible way. In reality, when we reject the message of the Gospel or do not pay enough attention to it, the reason is always that our hearts are not open.
That is why the first thing St. Benedict asks of monks and nuns, at the beginning of the Prologue to his Rule, is to listen, to lend an ear—the ear of our heart, he says.
Let us not be like the children Jesus speaks of in today's Gospel, who do not listen, do not obey, refuse to dance when the flute is played and refuse to mourn when mourning songs are sung. Let us not be among those to whom the Lord will have to say with sadness: ‘Ah! If you had been attentive to my commandments, your peace would be like a river.’
In this season of Advent, let us therefore be attentive to the Lord's commandments so that our peace may flow like a long, peaceful river.
Armand VEILLEUX