Throughout the first three weeks of Advent our focus is very clearly on the Second Coming of the Lord - not so much on the run up to Christmas (until the last week). If we view Advent as a preparation for Christmas these readings will make little sense - and neither will the figure of John the Baptist who appears today: if its about the preparation for Christmas, then John the Baptist, preaching after Jesus was born, is a confusing figure: but his role is to preach to us, as he did of old, and to prepare us for the (second) coming of the Lord. Today we have a very graphic reference to the end of time and the Second Coming in the reading from Saint Peter; it is a frightening picture, and so the first reading offers tender words of comfort to help us understand who is coming, and why we should be ready to meet him.