Sunday Reflection: 2 Peter 3:8-14

Today is Second Sunday of Advent, and it is fitting the we continue discussing the theme or preparation that we discussed last week. Of course in today's Gospel we heard John the Baptist's well-known words, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight His paths." This call is still relevant to us, and as John the Baptist was preparing the people for Christ's ministry on Earth, we are to be preparing our hearts for His return at the Second Coming. In the reading we heard today from the Second Letter of Saint Peter, we received a detailed model of what our preparation should resemble. It reads:

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved,

that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years

and a thousand years like one day.

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some regard “delay,”

but he is patient with you,

not wishing that any should perish

but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,

and then the heavens will pass away with a mighty roar

and the elements will be dissolved by fire,

and the earth and everything done on it will be found out.

Since everything is to be dissolved in this way,

what sort of persons ought you to be,

conducting yourselves in holiness and devotion,

waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,

because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames

and the elements melted by fire.

But according to his promise

we await new heavens and a new earth

in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,

be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

First off, let us praise God for His patience. How often is it that we fall astray, yet God, out of his unending desire for us, always calls us back to Him. Even with this being the case, Peter made sure to remind us all that our Lord has a plan to return at a set time, and that we are not to know. It will be unexpected. As Peter says, it will be as a thief in the night, and that this world will come to an end as the new is ushered in.

It is the new heaven and new Earth that we are awaiting, and as such our preparation is not to be rooted in the old world. Peter teaches that since the old world is going to pass away, we ought to conduct ourselves in holiness. 

To be Holy means to be set apart. It is often said that we are to be in the world but not of the world. The ways of this world are fallen, so as disciples of Christ we ought to make our ways align with his ways. Christ said, "If ye love me, keep my commands." If we keep the Word of God on our hearts and live it out in this world, then He shall have a place for us in the next.

As a side note, Peter gives at the end of this passage a reference to a model that God has blessed us with in accepting his will for our lives. Peter says that we should be eager to be found without blemish. 

This phrase, "without blemish," has been used to identify two characters in our salvation history. Of course we have Christ, the spotless lamb, but we also have his Immaculate Mother, Mary. When Mary is greeted by the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation, Gabriel identifies her as Kecharitomene, full of grace. This is no mere greeting, but an identification of something unique to Mary, that she is free from the stain of sin. Kecharitomene appears one other time in Scripture, in the Greek book of Sirach. In the King James translation of Sirach, Kecharitomene is translated to "without blemish". It is clear then that to be full of the grace of God is to be without blemish. Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin at her conception by the merit of her Son's sacrifice. We too can have the stain of original wiped clean through baptism. Not only was Mary free from sin, but she was totally submissive to the will of God. May we ever seek to echo her "Yes" in response to God's will for our own lives

Let us pray that as we continue through this Advent that we continue to say yes to the Will of God for our lives, so that we be able to live in holiness in order to await his coming Kingdom.