THE Old Testament Reading this Sunday is one of my favorite Scripture readings during Advent. It speaks so much of promises of hope, harmony, and peace. Its contrasting images capture God’s innermost desire for us:
“Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors; together, their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s hair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.”
Isn’t this also our wish for the world, our country, communities, churches, and families? We long for peace, harmony, and justice for all, especially as we approach Christmas and New Year. We pray for the end of violence, war, and racial hatred. We don’t want another mass shooting; we’re tired of division in government, politics, and even in Church.
Let’s not lose our hope for a better world and society. Let’s keep advocating for peace, justice, and harmony.
In his book, The Liturgical Year, Adrien Nocent outrightly posts the question, Is there a Christian way of hoping? Then he explains:
“The subject is a complicated one, but it is also of basic importance. For how is it possible to really live without looking forward to someone and something? Would it be possible to breathe without hope? Could Christians be prisoners turning around in a circle, knocking their heads on the walls of their cell, whether it be of legalism or of some ready-made affair called ‘spiritual life’? Does not the Christian, like every other person (though perhaps more than any other), have the duty of cultivating a stern yet joyous discontent with the human condition? Perhaps that is what distinguishes the Christian’s hope: though it is fierce and implacable, stern and eager, it is also paradoxically, of joy.”
For us, Christians, Advent, then is a joyous celebration of hope. Our hope lies in Jesus Christ, the promise of the deliverance of the past, the present, and the future. As Nocent says, in Advent, “the Christian relives in the present the Old Testament past, lives the incarnation as an event of today, and waits for the return of Christ and the breaking of the mirror on the last day.”
Let’s not lose hope for the world and our lives. Let’s live with a fierce hope that marks the life of every Christian!
A blessed and hope-filled Advent to all!
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Fr. Rodel “Odey” Balagtas is the pastor of Incarnation Church in Glendale, California.