December 8, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year A) on December 7, 2025 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. This was both a Family Mass, with readings taken from the Children’s Lectionary, and it also included the Rites of Welcoming and Acceptance for teens and adults in the Order of Christian Initation of Adults. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72; Romans 15:4-9; and Matthew 3:1-12.
Our first reading and psalm today express the beauty we will experience when God’s kingdom fully arrives on earth. However, big, big changes need to take place for God’s peace and justice to arrive. Isaiah tells us that even the animals that usually fight with each other will get along. Isaiah also mentions some of the gifts that God provides us through the Holy Spirit — wisdom, kindness, fairness, and love of God. Will God make the changes happen by himself, or do we need to use our gifts to make them happen? John the Baptist, who is trying to prepare the people for God’s coming, is sure that we all have to use our gifts first: “You are all snakes!” he shouts. “The ax is ready to cut down the trees!”
This may seem like an odd weekend to celebrate the Rites of Welcome and Acceptance with those who seek to come into the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil. But actually, it makes perfect sense. These catechumens and candidates seek the repentance promised by the baptism of John, a baptism that Jesus fulfilled and surpassed. When we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are obligated to practice the same love that Jesus showed us on the cross. To support our catechumens and candidates as they prepare for this new way of life, we now bless them with the sign of Christ’s radical, sacrificial love. [Lead into the Rite of signing the catechumens and candidates.]
Advent is the season of waiting. This weekend, the waiting in our readings is mostly about waiting for God’s kingdom of peace and justice to arrive. For our catechumens and candidates in particular, it’s about waiting to receive their sacraments. One of our candidates in particular as been anxious to be baptized for over a year, and I have counseled him that the time wasn’t quite right yet. And then, when we scheduled this rite of welcome and acceptance to be celebrated for one of the 8:30 am Masses in October, he wasn’t available. But now, he and our other catechumens and candidates are here! [Applause.]
But many people are waiting for all kinds of things. I ask the children among us, what are you waiting for this December? [Take some answers.] And you adults, what are you waiting for? [Take some answers.]
Today is the 84th anniversary of a very terrible day in the United States: the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which drew the United States into World War II. A few of the oldest people among us today were alive at that time, and it changed their families’ view of the world. It made them realize that God’s justice and peace would not break forth in the world unless we helped contribute to it. World War II was a terrible, terrible experience for the world, but many important institutions that helped promote peace were established soon after the war ended, such a the United Nations. But now that many of the people who created those institutions have died, there are a lot of adults confused about what to do right now: no human institution is perfect. Should we accept the flaws of the institutions as they are, because we don’t have a better idea of what to do? Is this a moment to radically change these institutions? Are we supposed to make minor changes while we wait for new inspiration from the Holy Spirit about what to do next? Is this a season of waiting or a season of action?
Every year on this Second Sunday of Advent, the Church explicitly connects the coming of God’s realm with our personal actions. I can think of no better set of readings to challenge us to address unfair social systems than the ones we hear every third year on this weekend. John the Baptist demands that we prepare the way of the Lord. Isaiah and Psalm 72 link God’s justice to lifting up the poor, and St. Paul says that these readings encourage us to have hope.
Advent is a season of waiting, but the Church tells us that it’s supposed to be a season of waiting in joyful hope. Where do we find hope this Advent?
Back when I was a priest in Tennessee, I had the great privilege of celebrating Mass on a regular basis with the guys housed in the maximum security pod of the Knox County Detention Center. They seemed to understand the concept of Advent better than anyone else I’ve ever met. These were guys who, for truly tragic reasons, had experienced the ax lying at the root of the trees. But they’d heard John the Baptist’s message to repent. These guys found God in the prison. They continually read the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. They didn’t know what the future held for them, but they were committed to finding ways to bear good fruit for themselves and for others.
We at Old St. Mary’s have agreed to encourage some of people imprisoned in Cook County. Through Kolbe House, we are making simple hand-written cards for 100 prisoners. If you can make some cards this coming week, please take an information sheet with you from the commons — there are many, many restrictions on what materials to use and what we can say, but it still would be a beautiful gift we can give to those who are held captive. We’ll need those cards turned into us by Monday, December 15.
I find joyful hope in our catechumens and candidates. They know that the world isn’t perfect, and they know that our Church isn’t perfect, either. And yet, they’re feeling called to come into full communion with the Church. And so I ask you, catechumens and candidates, both those who went through the rite today and those of you who did it 6 weeks ago at the 8:30 am Mass, what are you waiting for this Advent with joyful hope? [Take answers.]
As we await the coming of Christ, we are called to be Christ’s body. My dear catechumens and candidates, you were blessed on many different parts of your body with the cross. Soon to be empowered by the gifts of the Holy Spirit named by Isaiah, you now join us in being Christ’s eyes, Christ’s ears, Christ’s shoulders, Christ’s heart, Christ’s hands, Christ’s feet, and Christ’s voice to those in need of the saving message of the gospel.