8 December 2024 - 2nd Sunday of Advent "C”
Ba 5, 1-9; Phil 1, 4...11; Lk 3, 1-6
Homily
The person of John the Baptist is at the heart of the liturgy of the second and third Sundays of Advent. In next Sunday's Gospel we hear his message, his call to conversion. Today's Gospel is about his mission as a prophet. We are not talking about his own words, but about the Word of God that was addressed to him, or rather, to translate the text more literally, the Word of God that ‘came down upon him’. Moreover, in these first chapters of Luke's Gospel, each section begins with an intervention by this Word of God. From the very opening of that Gospel, the Word of God is addressed to Zechariah in the Temple, and then to Mary, in whom it becomes flesh. Here, at the beginning of chapter three, it descends upon John the Baptist.