{"id":8668,"date":"2023-12-05T16:43:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T00:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/?p=8668"},"modified":"2023-12-05T16:43:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T00:43:05","slug":"promises-kept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/2023\/12\/05\/promises-kept\/","title":{"rendered":"Promises Kept"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the second Sunday of Advent \u2018B\u2019, our Church urges us to continue to build our longing for the coming of Christ. God said to His prophet Isaiah, \u201cComfort, give comfort to my people.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Isaiah was also told,\u201cSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Thus, the Lord promised a new start, and it was fulfilled when the\u00a0\u2018anointed\u2019\u00a0<\/em>Persian Emperor Cyrus ended Judah\u2019s long captivity ordering them to restore their Temple and their faith. God kept his promise to comfort them, to shepherd them, leading them home to Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How then does this apply to us? You and I are held captive every day. It is an especially busy time. It may also be that some of us live under the captivity of our sinfulness. We need calm. We may need forgiveness. Thus, the Lord repeats also for our sake,\u00a0\u201cComfort, give comfort to my people.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0He promised through the prophets, He promised through Mary, that His Holy One would come to save us. He came, and we see in Jesus the fulfillment of desire, and in Advent we seek to rekindle our gratitude to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah\u2019s prophecy did not end with God\u2019s comforting word. He went on to proclaim, \u201cA voice cries out: In the desert, prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>St. Mark\u2019s Gospel applies the call of the prophetic voice of old, Isaiah\u2019s, to that of the New Testament voice of John the Baptist. Both prophets seek preparation for God\u2019s coming. Mark leaves no doubt of what the Baptist seeks:\u00a0“repentance for the forgiveness of sins.<\/em>“\u00a0<\/em>Join with Jesus, the one greater than he, by faith and repentance. \u201cRepent!\u201d\u2026 \u201cBelieve!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus is the Father\u2019s great sign of redemption. We need Him in our lives.\u00a0<\/em>That He should come to us as an infant, born and absorbed into humanity is but a sign that God\u2019s thinking is not our way. Sinfulness arises from the darkness in humanity. God\u2019s promise of salvation is made real by that light shining from Jesus at Bethlehem. For Him we long God\u2019s way of destroying the darkness of sin and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Prepare the way of the Promised One.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLord, let us see your kindness,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grant us your salvation.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                (Psalm 85:8)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Fr. Ed Liptak, SDB For the second Sunday of Advent \u2018B\u2019, our Church urges us to continue to build our longing for the coming of Christ. God said to His prophet Isaiah, \u201cComfort, give comfort to my people.\u201d\u00a0Isaiah was also told,\u201cSpeak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.\u201d\u00a0Thus, the Lord promised a new … Continuar leyendo Promises Kept<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":6060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20310044],"tags":[35890],"class_list":["post-8668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-province-news","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/intouch-2023-1.png?fit=904%2C1104&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-2fO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8668"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8674,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8668\/revisions\/8674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}