Liturgical Study - Second Sunday of Advent - Novus Ordo - Year A
December 7, 2025
Readings <— USCCB Readings
First Reading: Isaiah 11:1–10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72
Second Reading: Romans 15:4–9
Gospel: Matthew 3:1–12 — the preaching of John the Baptist
“Prepare the Way of the Lord”
On this Second Sunday of Advent, the Church no longer speaks of watchfulness alone. She now proclaims identity, authority, judgment, and choice. The readings do not simply accompany one another — they advance the Kingdom of God toward the soul in a single prophetic procession.
A King is revealed.
A Kingdom is described.
A people are formed.
And at last, a verdict is demanded.
Advent moves from quiet vigilance to moral confrontation. Last Sunday commanded us to wake up. This Sunday tells us what to do now that we are awake:
repent, be purified, and bear fruit worthy of the coming King.
1. FIRST READING -- Isaiah 11:1–10 — The King Revealed in Power and Holiness
Isaiah opens the drama not with sentiment, but with sovereignty. From the dead stump of Jesse — from what appears politically, spiritually, and historically exhausted — God raises a living shoot. This is no symbolic ruler. This is the Spirit-anointed King upon whom rests wisdom, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.
This is not poetic ornamentation; this is the portrait of Christ the King endowed with divine authority, whose reign is rooted not in coercion but in righteousness. His judgments are not superficial; He “shall strike the ruthless with the rod of His mouth.”
Then comes the famous vision:
The wolf dwells with the lamb.
The leopard lies with the kid.
The lion eats straw like the ox.
This is not sentimental imagery. It is a revelation of cosmic restoration — creation healed because sin has been conquered at its root. Isaiah teaches that true peace is the fruit of holiness, not politics. Only when the King reigns in justice can creation itself rest.
Advent therefore begins not with cozy animals, but with a King of judgment and righteousness.
2. RESPONSORIAL PSALM -- Psalm 72 — The King Enthroned in Justice
Psalm 72 takes Isaiah’s prophetic King and places Him upon the throne. What Isaiah saw in vision, the Church now dares to invoke in prayer.
This King:
Defends the poor,
Rescues the afflicted,
Makes justice flourish,
And establishes peace that endures “as long as the moon.”
His peace is not emotional reassurance; it is the stability that flows only from righteous judgment. The Church is not praying here for improved politics. She is praying for the reign of Christ over nations, laws, and hearts themselves. Already the Advent horizon widens: this Kingdom is not private.
The psalm thus proclaims an uncomfortable truth for every age:
The world does not need less kingship. It needs the correct Kingship.
3. SECOND READING -- Romans 15:4–9 — The Kingdom Formed in a People
Romans now turns the same Kingdom inward. If such a King is truly coming, His people cannot remain unchanged. Scripture, St. Paul teaches, exists to train endurance, generate hope, and form unity in truth.
Christian hope is not emotional optimism; it is perseverance anchored in revealed truth. Paul calls the Church to unity so that “with one voice” we may glorify God — but this unity is not relativism. It is unity founded on Christ’s fulfilled promises.
Christ is the minister of the circumcised — faithful to Israel — and also the Savior of the Gentiles. Advent therefore announces a universal Kingdom: Jew and Gentile, nation and nation, all brought under one Lord.
The Kingdom that Isaiah foretold and the Psalm enthroned must now be incarnated in a people who live differently — disciplined by charity, formed by obedience, and united in truth.
4. GOSPEL READING - Matthew 3:1–12 — The Kingdom Announced in Fire
Then the narrative accelerates with terrifying clarity. Matthew unleashes John the Baptist into the wilderness like a warning siren ahead of the approaching monarch.
The King has drawn so near that theology must now become repentance. Crowds pour into the desert, and John does not flatter them. He unmasks them.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The axe is already at the root.
The winnowing fan is already raised.
The fire is already prepared.
This is Advent’s hard edge. John preaches not comfort, but judgment that leads to mercy only through conversion. He exposes false religion that presumes external ritual without interior change. He calls the self-satisfied a “brood of vipers” and demands fruit worthy of repentance.
And then comes the central Advent declaration:
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
This fire does not merely destroy — it purifies.
Those who repent will be refined.
Those who resist will be consumed by their own pride.
The same King who brings cosmic peace also brings decisive separation, because peace without holiness is deception.
5. The Theological Unity Now Fully Revealed
The Church’s liturgical wisdom is precise and relentless:
Isaiah shows who the King is.
Psalm 72 shows what His reign accomplishes.
Romans shows how His subjects must live.
Matthew shows that the hour of decision has arrived.
Advent therefore moves decisively from watchfulness to moral judgment. The question is no longer “Are you awake?” The question is now:
“Are you ready to repent and choose a side?”
The Church stands between prophecy and fulfillment and speaks to every soul without sentimentality: The King is real. His Kingdom is real. And you must decide whether you will enter it purified — or stand outside it hardened.
6. Advent and Zeal for Holiness
John the Baptist becomes Advent’s living antidote to spiritual mediocrity. True charity, he shows us, does not soothe sinners into sleep — it awakens them with Truth.
A Catholic who insists on reverence, discipline, and doctrinal clarity in Advent is not harsh. He is aligned with the Baptist. To tolerate irreverence while crying “Prepare the way of the Lord” would be contradiction.
The King who is coming brings both a manger and a furnace:
Mercy for the penitent,
Fire for the unrepentant.
This is why Advent tolerates no mediocrity. A soul that truly believes these readings cannot worship casually. Reverence here is not aesthetic preference; it is moral coherence. The King who comes with fire cannot be greeted with indifference [or flip-flops].
7. Interconnectedness, Magisterial Illumination, and Catholic Interpretation
The unity of this Sunday’s readings is not merely thematic but dogmatic and sacramental. The King announced in Isaiah, enthroned in Psalm 72, interiorly formed in Romans, and confronted through repentance in Matthew is one and the same divine Person — Christ the King — whose reign is simultaneously cosmic, ecclesial, and personal.
The Catechism explicitly affirms this threefold reign:
“Christ exercises His kingship by drawing all men to Himself through His death and Resurrection.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church §786)
St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that “grace perfects nature,” not by abolishing order but by restoring it (ST I–II, q.109, a.2). This explains why Isaiah’s peace is not sentimental — it is the natural world restored by supernatural grace. Peace flows from sanctity, not negotiation.
Likewise, Pope Pius XI later confirmed this very logic of the readings in Quas Primas:
“When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of liberty, order, and peace.”
Thus, Advent’s demand for repentance is not psychological but juridical and royal: to refuse conversion is to rebel against the coming King.
8. Practical Application — Conversion as Loyalty to the King
Because these readings are unified around the objective reign of Christ, their application is likewise unified: repentance is not optional devotion but the minimum requirement of citizenship in the Kingdom.
The Catechism states:
“The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church §2015)
Therefore, the practical response to this liturgy is not vague “seasonal reflection” but concrete acts of royal allegiance:
Sacramental conversion — frequent Confession as obedience to the King’s law.
Moral reform — casting off habitual sin as St. Paul commands.
Doctrinal fidelity — unity in truth, not sentiment.
Liturgical reverence — because the King’s approach determines the dignity of His court.
St. Gregory the Great taught that “the proof of love is in works.” Advent, therefore, exposes the illusion of a faith that claims to await Christ while refusing to change for Him.
The Baptist’s fire forces the final question upon every soul:
Do I prepare as a subject who expects his King — or delay as a rebel who hopes judgment will not arrive?
The Church places these readings together to make that evasion impossible.