2nd Sunday of Advent 2026

One of the advantages of our parish being dedicated to St John the Baptist is that we encounter our patron not only on his feast day in June but in Advent as well. On this 2nd Sunday, his mission is recalled: to prepare the way for Christ who is about to begin his ministry in Galilee. For that reason he is known in the Orthodox Church as “St John the Forerunner (prodromos in Greek).” John is often depicted pointing at Christ because his entire life and ministry was a witness to Jesus, the one greater than him, whose coming he was sent to announce.

Our vocation as Christians is similar to John’s, even if our lifestyle is different:

• John pointed to the one who was to come.

• We point to the one who has come.

• But because Jesus will come again in glory, we also point to him as the coming future one, just as John pointed to him in the past.

This Advent, let us rekindle our love for Christ and strive through prayer and witness to make him more widely known.

Collect

Eternal Lord,

our beginning and our end:

bring us with the whole creation

to your glory, hidden through past ages

and made known

in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Almighty God,

in Christ you make all things new:

transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,

and in the renewal of our lives

make known your heavenly glory;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.