Homily - 2nd Sunday of Advent "A" St. Monicas: 7-8 Decembe 2!

!"# Isaiah 11:1-10 : The Peaceable Kingdom: "The root of Jesse shall stand as a sign of hope to the peoples, of peace and reconciliation. Psalm 7 : J!stice shall flo!rish in his time" f!llness of peace fore#er." $omans 1%:&-' The (od of steadfastness and enco!ragement )ill gi#e *o! hope" )elcome one another in this hope. +atthe) ,:1-1 John-s call to con#ersion: the promised +essiah )ill come soon, in po)er: he )ill bapti.e ")ith the /ol* 0pirit and fire."

FREEDOM IN THE LIGHT OF HOPE

The extraordinary South African leader, Nelson Mandela, who fought for decades against the apartheid regime in his country died yesterday at the age of 95. He was a man of integrity and perse erance, !ut the "uality that ma#es Mandela stand out was his a!ility to forgi e his oppressors and encourage others to do the same. Nelson Mandela wal#ed the tal#. Although he did not often appeal directly to his $hristian faith % he was raised and educated in the &esleyan Methodist church % the example of 'Madi!a(s) life reflects his integration of *esus( teachings on non iolence and uni ersal lo e % including lo e of enemies. +n ,99-, after !eing .ailed for /0 years in ery harsh circumstances, Mandela was released. 1esisting the pressure to engage in the politics of re enge and settling scores, he chose to continue ad ocating for .ustice through the path of forgi eness and reconciliation. 'At a special United Nations gathering to mark Mandelas 95th birthday this past July, former U. . president !ill "linton told the story of ho# he once asked Mandela #hy he had in$ited his %ailers to his inauguration, and in$ited the participation of #hite opposition parties in his go$ernment. &'ell me the truth( )hen you #ere #alking do#n that road, didnt you hate them*+ "linton asked Mandela. ,e responded( -. did. . felt hatred and fear. !ut as . #alked out the door to#ard the gate that #ould lead to my
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freedom, . kne# if . didn/t lea$e my bitterness and hatred behind, ./d still be in prison. . #anted to be free and so . let it go.+ +n ad ocating for reconciliation, Mandela #new that forgi ing did not mean forgetting. He initiated the Truth and 1econciliation process, allowing people to tell their stories of pain and oppression. He #new that in telling their story, in spea#ing these hard truths, the path to repentance and forgi eness would !e opened, and the years of apartheid in South Africa would not !e forgotten. Nelson Mandela was a prophet of hope. H234. +t is a word which means different things to different people. 5or some, hope is optimism, the power of positi e thin#ing6 the inclination to see the glass as half7full rather than half7empty. 5or others, hope is a dewy7eyed idealism, a reluctance to face the more difficult and painful aspects of the external world in which we li e, the a oidance of our own internal struggles with fear, sadness, or loneliness, the ague sense that 'things ha e to get !etter, !ecause they can(t possi!ly get any worse.) 8ut hope is so much more than this. Today(s readings introduce us to two prophets who, in a time of crisis and in.ustice, put forth a ision of hope. +saiah and *ohn the 8aptist9 what hope do they offer us today that a new world % a different world, a more .ust world, a more peaceful world, a !etter world % is not only possi!le, !ut ine ita!le: How do they show us that hope is not .ust some #ind of 'pie7in7the7s#y7when7you7die) optimism, !ut the firm con iction that we are standing on the !rin# of real change and transformation: &hen we loo# at the world, we can see all the things that are wrong. And so naturally, we as# ;od to change those things that are outside of us. The prophets tell us that this change needs to happen first within us9 it is something inside of me that needs to change, that can change, and that will change. A true prophet is one who can e o#e our past and criti"ue our present, !ut always in the light of hope, of a freedom and energy that are waiting to emerge. A true prophet helps us to see !eyond the constricted ision limited !y our fears, !iases, and self7preoccupation, and presents us with a ision not of despair, !ut of hope. &hen + am feeling sad or lonely, o erwor#ed or unrecogni<ed, fearful or anxious a!out the future, it is easy for me to lose this sense of hope9 to
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distract myself with !usyness and repetiti e tas#s, chec#ing my e7mail and 5ace!oo# accounts almost compulsi ely, surfing the +nternet for !its of interesting !ut useless information. +t is hard to choose, in those moments, to put these aside, to ma#e space for *esus, his life7gi ing word, for prayer. A line of Scripture that has often helped me through these times is the word ;od spo#e through the 3rophet *eremiah to the people of +srael in exile9 &0or . kno# #ell the plans . ha$e for you, says the 1ord( 2lans of fullness, and not of harm3 plans to gi$e you a future full of hope.+ A future full of hope: that is what ;od desires for you, for me, for our families, for this parish community, for our sin7sic#, war7torn world. As the $hurch, *esus in ites us today to o ercome our fear and our sadness, and to li e as a people of H234. *esus calls us to !elie e in, and to wor# towards, this ision of a !etter world held out to us today !y +saiah and *ohn the 8aptist. As I reflected on todays first reading, I was moved by the prophet Isaiahs vision of the shoot sprouting from the root of Jesse. We read this prophecy in the light of hrist! we see in Jesus the "ne on whom #ods spirit rested, the "ne who came to usher in the peaceable $ingdom, in which all the rivalries and violence of the human and natural world are reconciled and overcome. And of course, I thought of the great modern prophets of nonviolence, from #andhi to %r. &ing to 'elson (andela, who wor$ed tirelessly and sacrificed immensely so that this vision might become not )ust a pipe*dream, but a reality. +he prophets tell us that it isnt enough )ust to wait for it, we also have to wor$ for it. And how do we do this- .y uprooting within ourselves first, and within our society, those movements of pride and arrogance, of /enophobia and self*sufficiency, that bloc$ us from reali0ing Isaiahs vision of a world mar$ed by harmony and interdependence, rather than violence and conflict. We do so by not waiting passively for change to happen outside of us, but by .1I'# the change we want to see in the world. We have to wal$ the tal$.

And this is where we connect to the message of John the .aptist. We hear his words, as reported by (atthew in todays #ospel, and it is tempting to dismiss John, )ust as we might switch off the +2 when confronted with a fire*and*brimstone 3outhern preacher. John easily comes across as a party*pooper, someone determined to spoil our fun. .ut his words remind us! if our Advent is only about preparing for the e/ternal dimensions of our hristmas festivities! competitive gift*giving and lavish parties, stringing up lights and decorating the tree, then something important is missing. 4reparing the way of the 5ord has to be about more than )ust shopping, cleaning, and decorating our o!ter world. It is to ma$e a straight path for #od, a place for Jesus, )ithin the totality of my life! in my wor$, my family, my relationships, my prayer, in the depths of my own heart. +he call to repent, to change, to forgive and to be forgiven, to welcome the &ingdom of #od, comes to us every Advent. John the .aptist comes to remind us that if we refuse this precious invitation to refocus our lives on Jesus, to prepare our hearts and our world for his coming, there are conse6uences! not so much the eternal fire*and*brimstone variety, but very practical ones. 3piritual writer Alice amille puts it this way!
1J!st thin2. /o) can the holida*s be 3o*f!l if resentment and !nforgi#eness is the atmosphere aro!nd the table4 If )e are feasting s!mpt!o!sl*, )hen others cannot e#en feed their families4 If )e are so b!s* shopping for things )e don5t reall* need or e#en )ant, that )e fail to contemplate the m*ster* of di#ine lo#e )hich is )hat 6hristmas is reall* all abo!t4 The danger is that once 6hristmas is o#er, )e find o!rsel#es feeling o#erst!ffed, *et )ith a hollo) feeling inside, and )onder )h*. John5s in#itation to repent, ret!rn, and reassess ma* be diffic!lt at first, b!t it is the one that )ill help !s to identif* o!r deeper reasons to re3oice.7

Jesus is our reason for 7"41. And Advent is our annual reminder that the infinite desires of our human heart can only be satisfied ultimately by unconditional love, the love of #od made flesh in Jesus. +he same Jesus who came to the stable in .ethlehem, who will come again in glory at the end of time, is also the "ne who comes into my life each day. We meet him everywhere 8 if we have eyes to see, ears to hear, hearts to respond, and hands to
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serve. I find 7"41 today in the generosity of those who have responded so generously to Jesus in their support for our hristmas bas$ets and in our collection for the victims of the typhoon in the 4hilippines. I find 7"41 in those who serve Jesus by tenderly caring for their spouses, their children, for elderly parents, for friends and neighbors in need. I find 7"41 in those who persevere in faith, hope, and love, even when confronted with their own sadness and disappointments in life. And I find 7"41 in the prophets who remind us that the &ingdom inaugurated by Jesus is not a mere pipe*dream or a fantasy, but a reality )ust waiting to be born. As the late, great prophet 'elson (andela reminds us!
''No one is born hating another person because of the color of his s in! or his bac groun"! or his religion# People $ust learn to hate! an" if the% can learn to hate! the% can be taught to lo&e! for lo&e co$es $ore naturall% to the hu$an heart than its opposite#' ( Nelson Man"ela )*+*,-./*01