As the Church marks the Second Sunday of Advent, Jenny Kraska offers her reflection on the Gospel reading for the day.
By Jenny Kraska
At this time of year, I love to watch It’s a Wonderful Life – one of my favorite Christmas movies. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, the story of George Bailey still strikes something deep within me. George begins overwhelmed, worn down, unsure of his purpose. Yet through a surprising messenger – an unlikely “John the Baptist” named Clarence – he is confronted with the truth about his life: the good he has done, the distortions he’s come to believe, and the grace that has been quietly holding him all along. By the end of the movie his circumstances haven’t changed, but he has. His eyes are opened. In many ways, this is precisely what Advent is meant to do for us: awaken us, reorient us, and prepare us to see our lives truthfully in the light of God.
This waking-up is exactly what John the Baptist calls for in this Sunday’s Gospel. Appearing suddenly in the desert of Judea, John cries out with a voice that refuses to be ignored: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” His message is not a gentle seasonal reminder; it is a spiritual alarm. The wilderness he stands in is not far from where we find ourselves – those interior spaces marked by distraction, exhaustion, uncertainty, or fear. John’s voice cuts through all of that with a single invitation: prepare the way of the Lord.
Preparation in the Christian life is more than adjusting a few habits. It is allowing God to reorder our hearts. It means letting grace soften what has grown rigid, opening room where resentment or discouragement has taken root, and pruning away what no longer bears fruit. John’s radical call is a call to honesty and humility – a willingness to let God reshape us.
Providentially, this second week of Advent is also rich with Marian feasts, each illuminating the Gospel’s invitation in a unique way. On Monday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception reminds us that salvation begins with grace. Mary, conceived without sin, is the perfect image of what it means to be wholly receptive to God. Where John urges conversion, Mary shows the beauty of a heart fully open to the Lord.
On Wednesday, the Church honors Our Lady of Loreto, celebrating the Holy House where the Annunciation took place. That tiny, humble home became the setting of the Incarnation. Loreto teaches us that God desires to enter the ordinary spaces of our lives – our homes, conversations, and routines. John says, “Prepare the way”, Loreto shows that the way begins exactly where we are.
And on Friday, we turn to Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas, who comes close to the poor and the burdened. Her words to St. Juan Diego – “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” – reveal the tenderness of God’s nearness. Her presence consoles even as John’s words challenge. Together, they unveil the fullness of Advent: both the call to transformation and the assurance that God walks with us in it.
As we continue this sacred season, may John the Baptist awaken us, Mary accompany us, and Christ find in us a heart ready to receive Him anew.
