2nd Sunday of Advent, A December 7, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
I feel as though being a priest, a spiritual father entitles me to the occasional dad joke, so here’s a bible dad joke: What kind of car does Jesus have? A Honda, but he doesn’t drive it: “I came not of my own accord, but he sent me” (Jn 8:42, RSV). Really though, what is this “accord” scripture speaks of? St. Paul today in our second reading prays that “with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we’re not all cramming into one car to praise God, what does St. Paul want us to do?
“Accord” is willingness, harmony or agreement – the opposite of discord. It comes from the Latin word for and, “ac,” and the word for heart, “cor.” Hearts together or of one heart. The New Testament is full of pleas and exhortations for Christians to be united at heart. It’s the last thing Jesus prayed for at the Last Supper: “that they may be one.” So, how do we get to be of “one accord?”
Let’s start with what we don’t do. We don’t just pretend to get along. We don’t just avoid disagreements. Look at John the Baptist’s approach: “you brood of vipers!” and “every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire!” How is that harmonious? How is that peaceful? Because this kind of harmony, this kind of accord must include unity of mind. See how St. Paul says, “whatever was written previously was written for our instruction” and “may God grant you to think in harmony with one another, in keeping with Christ Jesus.” The Roman Christians Paul is writing to are a mixture of Jewish and Gentile converts. Jewish and Gentile worldviews are wildly different. Besides the literal difference in language, the different ways Jews and Gentiles viewed human nature, gods, good, and evil made it very easy for them to misunderstand each other. St. Paul wants the Romans to strive for real unity nonetheless. Superficial pleas to “be nice” aren’t enough. Both sides must shift their thinking towards Christ, towards to the fullness of Truth in Christ.
A similar dynamic is at play in the Gospel. The fact that the “whole region” was coming to John, that even Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to him is striking. Pharisees and Sadducees were rivals, factions of Judaism that were bitterly divided about very important theological ideas, giving very different answers to questions like “which books are real scripture?” “are angels real?” and “do we even have an afterlife?” When both sides get involved, it’s kind of a big deal.
For all their intellectual seriousness, however, John knows both the Pharisees and Sadducees could be quite hypocritical. So he challenges them to prove their sincerity. “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.” That means doing good works, yes, but it also means accepting a truth they were not ready to accept: “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.” Why? “The one coming after me… will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Doing good things is a necessary part of repentance for the Pharisees and Sadducees both, yet the real test comes when they have to accept Jesus Christ as the messiah who is also God incarnate… something we know most of them failed miserably at.
And what is the price for not accepting the truth, for not bearing fruit once we have the truth? “Unquenchable fire.” So maybe we should take this seriously… take both parts of it seriously, to be united in the truth and to bear fruit in how we live out that truth.
So, it’s worth asking yourself: Where are you not “of one accord” with the Church? In life, there’s plenty of room for disagreements on things like sports and food and music… there’s room for disagreement on important stuff like politics and parenting. But, when it comes to religion and to faith… unity of belief is the goal. Do you accept the Church’s teaching on morality… not just in the bedroom but also in the boardroom? Do you accept her teaching on race? On the preferential option for the poor? On issues of life and death? On the sacraments? Take time to examine your conscience this Advent: where do you think you know better than the Church? What are you willing to do to be conformed to Christ instead of trying to make him fit in with your own ideas? This is not a call to shut off your reason and critical thinking, but a call to put in the effort to accept and understand difficult teachings.
Then you must live it, you must “bear fruit.” Besides the usual reminders to care for the poor, to go to confession and Mass, and to love your neighbor, can I ask you to put into practice a very important and often neglected form of charity? Can you “bear fruit” in the kind of love that wants others to have the fullness of truth?
Pope Leo XIV wrote a letter on the unity of faith commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the council of Nicaea and the Nicene creed we say at Mass. He traveled to the place where the council happened, now called Iznik in Turkey. He met with leaders of the Orthodox churches, the major groups of Christians who split off from us 1000 years ago. They prayed together and signed a declaration of their mutual desire to restore unity. We have common ground, but there’s more to do.
The goal is not to “return to the state prior to the divisions, nor is it a mutual recognition of the current status quo of the diversity of Churches.” It is an effort “that seeks reconciliation.” In other words, doctrines and theological differences matter. Someone is right, someone is wrong. We should care when fellow Catholics, non-Catholics, and non-believers are wrong about God in one way or another.
We do not persecute, deride, or conquer those who do not accept the Catholic faith. We don’t claim perfection. Lord knows we’re often hypocritical; just because we have the full truth doesn’t mean we understand it correctly or that we live it out properly. None of that, however, is an excuse to act like we don’t have the truth… or that disagreements don’t matter. Taking the effort to enter the Church or stay in the Church matters because we have more of the truth than anyone else. And if it matters to us, we ought to want others to know.
John the Baptist didn’t care about being liked. He knew that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He knew that, like it or not, “the ax lies at the root of the trees” to cut down those that do not bear fruit. A tree in dead soil – a soul planted with false ideas – cannot bear much fruit. It must be fertilized by repentance, by turning away from sin and falsehood to holiness and truth. John loved those he criticized.
So, be like John the Baptist! Maybe not wearing a camel-hair shirt, but by practicing self-denial so you can see more clearly the kingdom of heaven. Feed on the honey of prayer and spiritual study so you can share the riches of faith with others. Speak to others of your master who has baptized you with fire. Call others to repentance. Challenge the sins and hypocrisy of those in your sphere of influence – not strangers on the internet but people you can have a real effect on. Invite lukewarm or fallen-away Catholics back to confession and Mass. Ask Non-Catholics to consider becoming Catholic.
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Make them straight by bringing your own heart into accord with Christ and his Church through prayer, confession, charity, Mass, and study. Prepare the way of the Lord for others by proclaiming like John the Baptist– in words appropriate to the person and place, but the message must be the same: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”