Jesus is the beginning and the end, and the source and the summit of the Good News.  That is why we point to him by our words and deeds.

Mark presents the beginning of the Good News.  But right away he speaks of Isaiah and John.  The last fulfills the prophecy about a voice in the desert.  So then, the old and the new beginning meet.

It turns out, then, that Jesus, the end, the goal, of the law and the prophets is in the beginning, at the starting point.  So, too, in the end, a centurion proclaims Jesus the Son of God (Mk 15, 39).  This proclamation, no doubt, matches the presentation of the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Jesus, yes, is the one that is in the beginning and in the end.  And he shows in the beginning and in the end that he is the Good News for all kinds of poor people.

He goes around Galilee to teach, preach the Kingdom, and cure diseases and illnesses (Mt 4, 23).  Also, he proclaims blessed those the world deems wretched.  He comforts the grief-stricken, like the widow of Nain, and Martha and Mary (Lk 7; Jn 11).  He is patient even with his disciples.  For time and again they show that they do not understand (Mk 8, 32; 9, 32. 34; 10, 37; Lk 24, 25).  Besides, he calls sinners to repentance (Mt 9, 9-10; Lk 19, 5).  And he feeds the hungry (Mt 15, 32).

Indeed, Jesus is committed to the least of his brothers and sisters from the beginning.  It does not surprise, then, that in the end, he will judge us on the basis of whether or not we shall have done as he.  So then, if we want him to judge us righteous at death, we have to live like him (SV.EN I:276).  And thus, as his sinless Mother, too, we shall point to him.

Lord Jesus, grant to us who sit at your table to be truly committed to the poor (CCC 1397).  Bless our work, though lowly our beginning may be, that it may only be a warm smile (SV.EN II:351; SV.EN X:268).

6 December 2020
Second Sunday of Advent (B)
Is 40, 1-5. 9-11; 2 Pt 3, 8-14; Mk 1, 1-8