Second Sunday of Advent
Afro Community Mass
St. Bernadette Parish, Severn
December 10, 2023
Introduction
It is a pleasure and an honor to gather with you as we celebrate this Holy Mass with all of you, members of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, who come from various countries in Africa either directly or by heritage. You hail from Nigeria and Cameroon, from Kenya, Uganda, and Ghana, as well as Gambia, Benin Republic, Congo, Liberia, Siera Leone, Burkina Faso. You represent the rich heritage and the vibrant Catholicism of these African countries, and your growing presence in the Archdiocese is a sign of hope and cause for joy. And what a grace and joy it is for me, as your archbishop, to witness how, in the diversity of your languages, histories, and cultures, you come together as one, members of Body of Christ, celebrating one Lord, one faith, one baptism, united in one faith, one hope, and in the love of one Savior, Jesus Christ.
I thank you for maintaining strong and loving families, for all that you do to provide for your families, for the diligence with which you educate your children, for sharing with them the language and culture of your countries of origin, and especially for your efforts to communicate the Faith to your children. This is not easy to do in our secular culture, and so I want to offer you both my prayers and my encouragement! May the Lord strengthen and encourage you always!
Let me also acknowledge the presence of so many African priests and seminarians, as well as the many women religious from Africa who serve in the Archdiocese. They are Africa’s gift to the Church in America and to the Archdiocese of Baltimore. For all that you – our priests, religious, and seminarians – do for the Archdiocese, I am deeply grateful and ask the Lord to bless you and your ministries abundantly.
The Experience of Exile
Let us turn now to the Word of God for the Second Sunday of Advent, asking the Lord to light our path in this present moment and in the future. And we begin with the reading from Isaiah the prophet.
Isaiah was addressing the people of Israel who were exiled from their homeland, taken captive by the Babylonian empire and King Nabuchodonosor. No longer could the Chosen People worship at the temple in Jerusalem. In a foreign land, it was difficult for them to celebrate their feast days, to speak their language, to sing their songs. Psalm 137 is a lament for the sorry state in which the Israelites found themselves: “How could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?” they asked.
To them, Isaiah spoke words of consolation. He tells them that their sins are forgiven that the days of their captivity are coming to an end, that God is coming to deliver them and lead them to himself. “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock,” says Isaiah to the beleaguered Israelites; “in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care…”
As we all know, people emigrate from one country to another for various reasons. Sometimes they do so because of political oppression and physical danger. Sometimes because economic opportunity is lacking. Sometimes for education and career advancement. Sometimes to live with loved ones who have already emigrated. For these and other reasons, people leave behind their homelands. Yet, even when they make a new and secure home in another country, emigrants can still feel as though they are in exile. I think of my grandfather who emigrated from Sicily at the turn of the last century. He and his wife raised a wonderful family; they worked hard and did well; but to the end of his days, my grandfather missed the land from which he came. Perhaps this is part of your experience.
May God’s Word, spoken through the prophet Isaiah, encourage you as you continue to make your home here in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. May you always find this to be a congenial, welcoming home where you and your families can indeed observe your customs, speak your language, and practice your faith – and continue greatly to contribute to the vitality of the nation’s oldest archdiocese, an archdiocese that has always been home to those who have come from afar. This is my hope and prayer, as your pastor!
Our True and Common Homeland
But the message of Advent runs even deeper. As we listen to Isaiah’s successor, John the Baptist, we are called to leave behind the captivity of sin and the alienation from God and from one another that sin produces. As Psalm 62 proclaims, “Only in God is my soul at rest!” Only in the Lord are you and I truly “at home” – wherever we come from, whatever language we speak, whatever circumstances we’re in.
The message of Advent is that God has come in search of us. He sent his Son to become one of us, to share our life fully, to proclaim the Good News, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, and though sinless, to die for our sins, our alienation from God and one another. This is the Good News that John the Baptist proclaims anew to you and me as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior at Christmas. Just as we expect a welcoming church and a welcoming culture, so too we should pray earnestly during Advent for a mind and heart and spirit that is truly welcoming to the Lord. We should pray for a heart that is smooth and level highway for the Lord to come into our lives anew, to forgive our sins, to enable us to grow in holiness, to make us his followers and active members of his Body the Church.
So let us prepare a way for the Lord – by forgiving any who have wronged us, seeking the forgiveness of any we have wronged, by making a good confession of our sins during Advent, by praying every day so as to understand and so to eradicate whatever obstacles we may put in the way of the Lord as he comes to us. Let us buy gifts for one another but always remember the poor all around us. And if we observe this season of grace wholeheartedly, our hearts will rejoice as Jesus our shepherd comes among us, the shepherd who feeds us, his flock, with the Eucharist, the shepherd who gathers us, his lambs, into the arms of the Church, the shepherd who carries us, his people, close to his Sacred Heart, the shepherd who leads us, his ewes, to the pastures of his love and mercy.
And may God bless us and keep us always in his love!