He appeared, he was preaching and attracting crowds in want of inner freedom. He came as prophet of the Most High. Who is this one? The last of the prophet, John the Baptist, known for his zeal for God’s glory. He came on the shore of the Jordan, at the ford of Bethabara, at the very place where Joshua brought the Hebrews into the Promised Land. It is significant and symbolic. Something new is coming; the past is just the preparation of what will happen. It is the whole people of the Promise who find themselves summoned to this place to complete a passage that will open for them the way to eternal life; the life that is before us, not behind; we are going towards the life, and this call comes from elsewhere. In this crowd, we find every kind of person, the Pharisees and their focus on the law, the Sadducees who do not believe in Resurrection, the Zealots who trust in fights, and us with our hidden desire for love and our weaknesses; we all are called to be immersed in the water of the baptism; John is radical with some, and the Pharisees surely were surprised by his word answering their good will. In another gospel, people were asking:” What then should we do?” It is in the tradition of the Prophets to call for conversion, for sincere repentance, but John announces to us a baptism in fire; let us hope with him that this fire ignites the life of all beings on earth. This new baptism opens a new hope; and for illustrating this call for new life, this new life which Christ is bringing with him, I share with you this beautiful text of Christian de Chergé on hope:
Hope is God’s own (F. Christian)
Life is more than what we believe!
It is standing up when everyone else is comfortably seated.
It is staying awake when your eyes grow heavy so as not to see the agony that threatens.
It is competing in love so as not to let death seize your heart.
It is praying at all times to escape everything that “must happen”… and how?
“By not escaping from the One who is coming” and who is the OVERFLOW of God’s love, inconceivable!
He comes to tell us that it is always hope within us that fails Hope: God’s own nature “is to have always been ahead of what we hoped for from Him.”
He comes to tell us that he has always been the UNEXPECTED ONE, of whom we are the image in CREUX. (1st Sunday of Advent 1994)
People were asking to John: “What should we do”? Mary whose Immaculate Conception we celebrate this Monday answered: “Do whatever He tells you”.
Sr. Claire Bouttin, Superior
Second Sunday Advent December 7, 2025 Cycle A
Isaiah 11: 1-10; Ps 71; Rom 15: 4-9; Mt 3: 1-12
