Advent Sunday 2 – Baruch 5:1-9; Ps 126; Phil 1:4-6,8-11; Luke 3:1-6

God begins his work.
He will surely end it happily. I hope so.

Saint Paul was an optimist. At least at this stage of his life and ministry. Today we hear reading in a letter he wrote to the Philippians:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

The Philippians were probably not perfect. This was not a monastic community, concerned mainly with how to please God. They were ordinary people, recently converted, living in a city of retired legionnaires. They themselves were probably former soldiers. And yet Paul has hope. That since they believed, since they took the Gospel seriously, they will grow up, mature in faith: before they have to say goodbye to this world.

I worry about my loved ones who – it seems to me – have strayed from the path of faith. The worst thing is that nothing can be done. All that remains is prayer. And trust that God, who gave them the sacrament of baptism, who they received as children in Communion, who they received in the sacrament of confirmation. . . That this God, in some way that I cannot guess, will complete His work in them and on the day of their departure from this world they will be ready to meet Him.

No, I cannot be one hundred percent sure of that. But I ask God for it. Father, Son and Spirit. And I have such hope.