Isaiah’s prophecy in that first reading is supposed to
give us a better feel for what Advent and Gaudete mean…with imagery like
the ‘Steppe flowering’ and the ‘desert blooming’. I don’t know about you, but I only have a
vague idea what a ‘Steppe’ is – and I don’t live in a desert, so this imagery
doesn’t really speak to me. So let’s
look at some different images.
It’s hard to remember our fields and gardens just a couple of
months ago – full of leaves and green grass – and vegetables and fruit being
harvested by the bushel. Now that the
fields are covered in ice and even our hotbeds in the garden are struggling in
the cold – it would be hard to imagine ANYthing green growing from that
rock-hard soil. But we KNOW it will.
Similarly, now that the sun is at its lowest, it’s hard to
imagine being able to walk outside in shorts – or stay out working in the yard
until 9 or 10 at night. It’s hard to
imagine the warmth and light returning to brighten our days and our spirits
– but we know it will.
Isaiah’s prophecy – in fact, the whole theme of today’s
liturgy is Hope. He’s saying even
the impossible – like blooming in the desert – even THAT will be possible with God. When things seem at their worst and most
hopeless, Hope still remains…. And THAT is cause enough to Rejoice!
We can apply this to so many areas in our own lives… I have a
couple of examples.
Remember LAST summer?
The summer of 2012? In case you
forgot, we had a pretty bad drought. It
was sad to see the yards dry up – the fields wither – the trees dropping their
leaves - and the gardens turning brown.
It felt pretty hopeless – especially when the rain would get ALMOST here
then suddenly dissipate or go around us.
Yet every time it happened, what did we do??? We would all look at the 10 day forecast to
see ‘when is that next chance of rain coming’.
It got to the point that it was hard to imagine that it would EVER rain
again… but we knew it would. We knew that
God would provide in his own time. We
dared to hope even when hope was lost.
You know – I hate drought about as much as I hate anything….. I can’t imagine why God would allow such
widespread death of His beautiful creation – not to mention the suffering it
causes for His people. But - THIS summer, I realized that the drought
was apparently the best thing that could happen to my orchard. Normally, the bugs are so bad that I don’t
get any peaches – and the apples all drop in June. This summer – the year after a drought – we
had a bumper crop! Honestly, last year I
was about ready to just cut down my orchard because they hadn’t borne anything
worthwhile in like 7 years. I couldn’t
imagine that I’d ever see a bumper crop again… but it came. I didn’t cut those trees down because I dared
to hope even when hope was lost.
On a more serious note, THIS summer I experienced something
that gave me a new appreciation for hopelessness. My Mom went into the hospital and frankly, we
didn’t think she was going to make it. Seemed
like thing kept going from bad to worse – and the family prepared for the
worst. I remember one weekend in
particular that I had my bags packed, because I was sure I would be called to
the hospital at any moment to be with my family as we said goodbye to the
person we love the most. I remember that
weekend, the hole in my gut and my heart.
It was a hopelessness I had not felt before. But, that same weekend, I actually had a
dream that Mom walked to her car at the hospital so she could leave. It was a dream – nothing more – so far beyond
reality, in fact, that I never dreamed that would ever happen – but by the
Grace of God – it happened. After three
months of rehab, Mom went home and we’ve been able to enjoy and appreciate her
presence even more. Thanksgiving had a
whole new meaning for our family this year.
I can remember during those three months that I would pray to
God for a miracle, but I didn’t really believe it would happen.
The lesson I learned – which is the lesson from our readings
today –
When all
hope seems lost, Hope will still spring up. It is ingrained into us as Christians… WE ARE
A PEOPLE OF HOPE!!! When one rainstorm
passes, we’ll always look to the next chance of rain. When someone we love falls ill, we always
have hope that God will heal them. I’m
not naïve enough to think that we won’t experience another drought – nor am I
naïve enough to think that Mom’s health will last. But I hope we’re all wise enough to recognize
that God was present thru all of it. The
drought seemed hopeless, but God used it to bring a bumper crop this year. Mom’s health seemed hopeless, but God used it
to help US appreciate her even more while we’ve still got her and not take her
for granted. God doesn’t PREVENT
suffering – but he prevents our suffering from being the worst it could
be. No matter how hopeless things seem,
there is always cause for Hope.
We could apply that to our parish cluster…in fact our whole
Catholic Church… as we are forced to face the reality of less priests. Yeah – it sometimes feels hopeless – as we
try to find the best way to reduce our number of Masses. But even in this seemingly hopeless
situation, we can be assured that God WILL act through this to bring us Joy. Perhaps we’ll take our parishes less for
granted?! Perhaps God will use our
situation to break some of the ways we’ve always done things so that our
Liturgies are more alive than ever!!!?
He could use this to bring a bumper crop of people to know Him
even better!
It’s hard to imagine – but we KNOW it could happen. So - Rejoice – something BIG is about to
happen! We are people of hope… we dare
to hope even when hope seems lost.
