Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair and had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.
I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Many times, we promise God that we will repent and walk away from anything that leads us into sin. With sincere intentions, we try to change, and for a while, we succeed. Yet sooner or later, we find ourselves falling again—caught once more in the very sins we vowed to leave behind.
It is easy to say that we will no longer sin, but when temptation quietly beckons, we often discover how weak we truly are. And so, we sin again and again, until sin begins to shape our habits, our choices, and eventually our way of life. Over time, these repeated sins slowly lead us toward emptiness and wretchedness.
Why do we sin? Why do we keep falling back into what we know harms us? Because sin is attractive and enticing. It promises pleasure, relief, or comfort, but in the end, it leaves us wounded, empty, and enslaved. Unless we truly repent and decisively turn away from sin, it continues to destroy us from within.
When John the Baptist appeared from the wilderness, he preached repentance, and many listened. People came to him to repent and be baptized, including the Pharisees and Sadducees. Yet their repentance lacked depth; it was outward and superficial. This was why John rebuked them. He called them to bear concrete fruits of repentance—to embrace an interior, genuine, and life-changing conversion.
This is also God’s call to us on this Second Sunday of Advent. We are invited to examine our hearts and ask whether our repentance is merely spoken or truly lived. God desires from us an interior, genuine, and deep repentance—one that moves us to completely walk away from anything that causes us to sin.
As we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Lord, let us ask ourselves with honesty and courage: Are we truly willing to let go of the sins we cling to, or are we content with shallow repentance that never really changes our lives? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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