2nd Reading for Sunday, 1st Week of Advent

From: Romans 13:11-14

Love, the Fulfilling of the Law (Continuation)

[11] Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; [12] the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; [13] let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarrelling and jealousy. [14] But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
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Commentary:

11-14. The Church uses this inspired text in t he liturgy of Advent to help us prepare for the coming of the Lord. Christ came into the world by his Incarnation; he also comes to souls through grace; and at the end of time he will come as Judge. Rising like the sun, he dispelled the darkness when he came into the world, and he continues to dispel whatever darkness remains in souls the more he obtains mastery over the hearts of men.

13-14. Souls who have become members of the Church through Baptism are always in need of conversion to a new life. Sometimes God uses Sacred Scripture to awaken people from their spiritual lethargy. In fact, he used these particular words of Scripture to move the heart of St Augustine and have him take the last step towards casting off the attachments of the flesh. "I felt myself still enslaved by my iniquities, and therefore did I groan to myself, 'How long? How long must I continue saying Tomorrow, tomorrow? Why not now? Why not, at one instant, make an end of all uncleanness?' [...] And behold I heard a voice, like that of a child in the house next door, repeating in a sing-song tone, 'Take up and read. Take up and read' [...]. I rose up [...] and returned to where I had left the book of the Apostle; I took it quickly into my hand, opened it and read in silence the first passage on which my eye happened to fall." Having transcribed the verses we are now commenting, Augustine continues: "I read no further, nor was there any need to; for with the end of this sentence, as by a clear and constant light infused into my heart, the darkness of all former doubts was immediately driven away" ("Confessions", VII, 12, 28-29).

14. All Christians "put on" Christ in Baptism (cf. Gal 3:27). Starting with this initial configuration to Christ, they are steadily transformed into him by frequent reception of the sacraments, particularly the sacrament of Penance. "'"Induimini Dominum Iesum Christum". Put on the Lord Jesus Christ', says St Paul to the Romans. It is in the Sacrament of Penance that you and I put on Jesus Christ and his merits" ([St] J. Escriva, "The Way", 310).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.