Repent

Second Sunday of Advent

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” This is the warning given by John. John wanted the people to reflect on their way of life, about their priorities, and change for the better. He had a mission, and this was to prepare the people for Jesus’ teachings. 

To be able to listen to John, the people left the towns and villages and went to the desert. Advent calls us to go to the desert too. The desert is where there are no distractions, a place where we can meet God. In the silence I meet not only God, but also myself. The rushed life we live, family commitments, work, and home, leave us with little time on our hands. However, it could also be that we are deliberately not making the time to spend in silence. Could the silence frighten us? Could it be that we are afraid to look at ourselves in the mirror and meet the real us? This is what the Church is offering us, at this special time. The Church is inviting us to stop, stay awake, as the Gospel asked of us last week, and look at ourselves the way God does, and repent. When we repent, we not only ask for forgiveness of our sins, but it also means that we decide to change for the better and walk more purposefully in the way of the Lord. 

Today’s Gospel asks us to repent, since sin does not allow us to live as God wishes. Sin burdens us, it does not allow our relationship with God to grow, it hinders us from knowing him more, it does not allow God to love us and to forgive us. We cannot achieve this on our own. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us the strength and will to change and live a life with joy and hope as children of God. 

The Pharisees and the Sadducees considered their salvation assured, because “we have Abraham as our father.” John warns them that this was not enough. We too may fall in such a trap, we may believe that since we are baptised, and we go to Sunday mass, we are saved. Our life must bear fruit; the way we live needs to witness our faith.

A reading from the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 3, 1-12) 

John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.

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 axe 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

  1. Read the Gospel story so that you are familiar with it.
  2. Reflect on what the Gospel story is saying to you. Which points would you highlight and why?
  3. The people used to go to the desert to listen to John. Where will you go to listen to God speaking to you? During the coming days, make time to be in silence away from distractions (without a mobile) and spend this time with Jesus.
  4. Apart from going to church on Sunday, during this week, go to church again with your family, and spend this time in prayer, both personal and together.
  5. How are you living this Advent with your family? Check out these sites for help on how to spend Advent.
  6. Together with your family find the right time to read this Gospel. The environment helps, so before you start, prepare;
    i. The Bible reading from Matthew (MT 3, 1-12)
    ii. A candle
    iii. Cover the table with a green cloth
    v. A computer/laptop with the readings and clips
  7. Go through the steps with your children (2 age groups are being suggested).
  8. Feel free to adapt to your situation
  9. Be creative 😊 
  10. Go to the Prayer Corner section to continue praying as a family. 

What happens at home when you are going to have visitors? What do your parents tell you to do? Do they ask you to pick up your toys? In today’s Gospel, we will meet with John the Baptist, who is also preparing for something. However, he was not clearing up to prepare the house for guests, he was preparing the people to meet Jesus. Let us listen to what John was doing.

  • It is not enough to be sorry for our bad choices, we also need to do our best and not repeat this wrongdoing again
  • Printout of the heart (preferably on A3 paper)
  • Printout of the different activities
  • Printout of the sad face
  • A paper cup or some other container
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Colours
activityDownload

Although we are preparing for Christmas, for the birth of Jesus, the story we heard today, happened when Jesus was already a grown up and had already starting to live his mission of preaching about God and his kingdom. John is preparing people to meet Jesus. He was not telling them to go home and clean it! He wanted them to prepare their hearts. How could they prepare their hearts for Jesus?

John told them, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  What does repent mean? This is not a word we usually hear. It could be that you have never heard it before! When we repent, we are sorry for our bad choices, for our sin. However, we cannot stop there. We also need to do our outmost not to repeat that sin. For example, your older brother is doing his homework and you want to play with him. He does not want to play before he finishes his work. You become angry and snatch his copybook, tearing it in the process. When you see this, you regret it and say that you are sorry. It is right to say that you are sorry, however, to repent means, that the next time you get angry, you do not just do whatever comes to mind. Instead, you move away and give yourself time to calm down, so that your actions are not done in anger. This is what it means to repent. It means that you are sorry for the wrong actions you have done and when you find yourself in a similar situation, you do not repeat the same wrong choice.

We too need to prepare our hearts for Jesus, this Christmas. We prepare our hearts for Jesus when we do as he wishes. This week’s activity will help you choose between actions which please Jesus and others which do not. It would be great if we always did what Jesus wanted. However, there are times when we do things which do not please him. When we do this, we need to be sorry and try not to repeat this wrong choice again. 

For the activity you have a printout of a heart. Cut it and glue it as indicated. You may also colour it. Glue the sad face onto the paper cup. Cut out the circles with different actions. When you are ready, you are going to divide the different pictures. If an action is good, for example, ‘reading the Bible’, you will put this in the heart. If the action is wrong, for example, ‘becoming angry’, put this in the cup. To prepare our hearts for Jesus, we need more good actions like the ones we put in the heart, rather than like the ones we put in the cup. When we do something, like the pictures we put in the cup, we are to ask for forgiveness and see that we do not repeat it again. For sure, you do many good things which please Jesus. During the remaining days of Advent, draw the good actions you do and put them in the heart. 

Whilst cutting the pictures and colouring the heart, listen to the song, about the candles on the Advent Wreath. 

The Advent Song (actions) The Advent Song (lyrics)

Sign of the Cross.

Dear Jesus, I want to prepare my heart for you. Help me, so that by Christmas, my heart will be full of good things which I did and which please you. Amen. 

Amen.

Have you ever been absent from home, for several days? Maybe you were on holiday or staying at friends? What do you do before you go? For sure, a list of things you need to take, will be of help. In this way, you will be sure not to forget anything. In today’s Gospel, we meet with John the Baptist, who will also speak about preparation. 

  • Repenting means that you do not continue doing the wrong that you are doing, it means that you change
  • We do not need to prepare anything

If we are going on holiday and we forget to take something important, we will pay for the consequences. For example, you go abroad with your family. You parents planned to hire a car, however, when you arrive, they notice that they forgot to bring their driving licence! This will disrupt all the plans they had. Therefore, apart from planning, one also needs to ensure that one has all the necessary things, to carry out what has been planned. 

What does all this have to do with today’s Gospel? In the reading we heard the phrase, “prepare the way of the Lord.” Do you know what this means?

We need to prepare ourselves for Jesus. We all believe, that after this life, there is heaven. However, we also know that the way to heaven is not easy and straight. In fact, John warns and says, “every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” We were baptised with the baptism of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, so we are to produce fruit. How will we produce fruit? 

Our fruit shows in the way we live. If we live as Jesus wishes, we will be producing fruit. However, we will not always manage to do good. There will be times when we will unfortunately make mistakes and sin. John is saying to us that when we sin, we need to repent. Do you know what this means?

Repentance means change. We mentioned that we are on a journey towards heaven. What can mislead us?

When we sin, when we make bad choices, we would have strayed away from the right way. When we are sorry, we would be back on the right track. However, if our will to change is not there, we will notice that although we felt sorry for having sinned, we would have quickly repeated the same sin. Repenting means that we are sorry for our sin and that we will do our best not to repeat it again. Therefore, if for example you have a habit of lying, if you repent, the next time when you are tempted to tell a lie, you will manage to stop yourself before lying. Repenting is like planning what you need to take for your holiday and taking everything you need, without forgetting anything. 

This is what John wants to teach us. If we make the right choices, and repent from the bad ones, we will be preparing ourselves for Jesus. We know that when we sin, we go to confession. So, during this week, see that you go to confession. Pay attention to what the priest tells you after you confess your sins. The priest gives you advice on how to avoid that sin, that is on how to repent. 

Sign of the cross.

Marantha’, come Lord Jesus and be born in me. Help me to prepare my heart to receive you. Holy Spirit, help me to be sorry for my sins and give me the strength not to repeat them again. Amen.

Gospel in Symbols Advent 2Download

How to use this space

God speaks to us in many ways, including through the Sunday Scripture readings. Here you will find useful background and activities to better understand the upcoming Sunday's Scripture readings, helping you to connect the Scripture to daily life in a meaningful way.