Hope (for Justice and Peace)

Homily for Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

If one had to choose a single word to describe the Season of Advent, I think the word that I would choose is “hope.” As we listen to the Scriptures today, each of them is filled with hope.

The prophet Isaiah will be highlighted throughout this season, and the passage that is chosen for today is certainly a poetic expression of hope. When I was nine years old, my family moved to a new home on 49^th Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the front yard of that house were two large elm trees. Unfortunately, those trees were cut down because of Dutch Elm disease. That left two rather large stumps in the front yard. For a while, we children used them as the place to sit during our frequent games of hide and seek. We sat on the stump and covered her eyes while we counted to one hundred. When we went off looking for our hidden neighbors, the stump would become “home” which those who were hidden would run and touch before they were tagged. However, before long the stumps started to show signs of life as skinny branches, or shoots as Isaiah calls them, started to come up around the stump. Before long, my stepfather dug out those stumps and planted one new tree. Whenever I read this prophecy from Isaiah, I think of those trees and my boyhood home. This image is followed by the picture of peace in the animal kingdom. The stump of Jesse has produced the Messiah who brings peace not only to men and women but also to the wild creatures of our world.

Isaiah’s oracle is followed by Psalm 72, a song about justice. Once again, we are reminded that the fruit of justice is peace.

Finally, the passage taken from the Gospel of St. Luke reminds us of how blessed we are to know the love that God has for each of us expressed in the life of our Redeemer, Jesus. Jesus is our hope. Jesus is our peace. Jesus is our justice.

Today we celebrate the feast of All Saints of the Franciscan Order. Throughout the eight hundred year history of this family, the church has been blessed with many saints and the blesseds who have lived lives that inspire each of us to cling to this way of life, a way of life that also brings hope to the world that all men and women can live together in peace. Through this Eucharist, we give thanks for the great witness of these many men and women.