HOPING FOR HOPE:
SHOOTS AND SPROUTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “Hoping for Hope: Shoots and Sprouts.”

We human beings are always looking for signs of hope. When we give up hope, call the undertaker. When we give up looking for signs of hope, it’s over. Lock the door. Hang up the sign, “Out of business,” Look for another job. Call the divorce lawyer. Stop going to the games. Switch the channel – find a better game.

Hope is one of the key messages for Advent.

Israel was always looking and hoping for a Messiah. They got a baby!

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings are all about hope.

In today’s first reading, Isaiah 11: 1-10, Isaiah – some time around 736 B.C. – preaches a message of great hope.

Isaiah begins with the image of a stump. It looks dead – and surprise he imagines a shoot shooting out from the stump of Jesse.

Israel looks hopeless! Isaiah says, “Don’t give up! Hope some more. Just as a little shoot sprouts off a dead stump – so a new king of Israel shall appear.

Haven’t we all seen a tree stump – almost parallel to the ground? The tree is gone – chain sawed down – and we’re looking down – and there we spot a small shoot shooting out from the edge of the stump. All we saw was death – the stump. We forgot about the roots below the surface – in the kingdom of the unseen.

The dreamer, the optimist, the one with hope, always hopes for such signs of hope in a marriage, in a work place, in the economy, in one’s kids. Recovery, resurrection, renewal, are in the DNA of the dreamer.

Isaiah says a leader with arise and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. He’ll have a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord does not mean a scary fear of one’s father or one’s God – but an awareness of our God and his hopes for us – that we live our life in love and service of one another. That’s God’s dream. That’s what God’s kingdom or will or whatever word we use means.

We know these words of Isaiah were planted in Jesus, because in his life we see them sprouted out and shouted out, when he began his journey of Good News of the Kingdom for Israel and our World. We know them from here in Isaiah 11 as well as from the very similar words Jesus used from Second Isaiah 61: 1-2 in his inaugural address as they appear in the Gospel of Luke 4:16-22.

Then today’s first reading gives the great dream of the Peaceable Kingdom. Isaiah paints the picture of it in words. We’ve seen images of this in pictures in Christmas cards – and art museums – and especially in the 61 (62) paintings by Edward Hicks (1780-1849) of the Peaceable Kingdom. The wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the calf and the young lion, the cow and the bear, can all live together in each of us – as well as in our world – and a little child will guide us. We might growl or be catty or a sneaky snake in the grass from time to time, but we can also be the sheep and the lamb – the poodle and the pussy cat – and be a welcoming presence to each other. Woof. Woof. Meow. Meow. Moo. Moo.

We’ve seen in our lifetime the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain come down – the Bear [Russia] and the Eagle (U.S.) are talking to each other from time to time – in spite of the comments in Wiki-Leaks, etc.

Today’s second reading from Romans gives hope. Paul begins by saying, “Brothers and sisters: Whatever was written previously was written for our instruction, that by endurance and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.”

There it is, the word, “hope”.

We have seen in our lifetime Protestants and Catholics and Jews working together on translations and understandings of our common scriptures. We hope that the scriptures of our world can bring us together instead of being used to fight one another.

Today’s gospel from Matthew features John the Baptist – the prophet of the desert – where there is more sand than green sprouts – yet he too gives hope.

He describes the hard work that is involved in hope. It’s not just dream words. It’s putting the ax to the root of our problems – especially cutting down our inner trees that are not bearing good fruit. Pruning, clearing dead branches, gathering and burning dead wood, are all part of clearing the way to new life.

Hope calls for cuts – painful cuts – but how else can we renew the face of our earth?

The title of my homily is, “Hoping for Hope: Shoots and Sprouts.”

It’s December 5th and in 2 weeks and a few days it will be December 21st, the shortest and darkest day of the year – and longest night of the year – and then the next day the days get longer – but it’s not till mid-January we dream of Florida or crocuses and buds on trees – signs of spring. I love living in places where we feel 4 seasons.

A FEW EXAMPLES AND THEN AN AMEN

In the latest issue of America Magazine, dated December 6, 2010, there is an article by Maryann Cusimano Love, entitled, “Where is God?” It begins, “During Mass at the historic St. Mary’s church in Annapolis, MD., our 3-year-old song sang loudly with the music, admired the religious art and said to me, ‘Mommy! God is here in this church!’”

When I read that I said, “Praise God.”

I thought of the retreat and meetings that took place all day yesterday in the Carroll House – where people from the parish gathered to reflect upon all the work done by folks for the future planning of this parish. There is hope.

There is a notice on our board in the rectory that Father John Murray, former pastor here at St. Mary’s, who fell and is paralyzed – just starting having movement in his legs and lifted one leg – after months of hearing that it looks like he’s paralyzed for life.

Last night I went to a play, The Foreigner, put on by our high school. As I sat there watching these kids do a comedy, I said, “Wow. These kids have a bright future.” I’ve seen kids with lots of talents graduate and I found myself wondering, "Who will replace them?" And every time I see one of St. Mary's High School plays, I realize, "Here are the replacements." If you have time the last showing is this afternoon over in our auditorium at 2 P.M.

I’m sure many of you have seen the YouTube video of folks in a mall Eating Area or Food Court in Toronto. They begin standing up one by one and singing the Hallelujah's Chorus Handel’s Messiah. I understand it’s had over 10 million hits so far. I think I heard it’s part of a movement called, “Random Acts of Culture.”

Isn’t that a great sign of hope: “Random Acts of Culture”?

People are still being part of the Random Acts of Kindness moment – where you just do something randomly nice for the next person.

We are called to be part of Random Acts of Culture.

We are called to put into play, Random Acts of Kindness.

We are called to be Random Acts of Hope.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Hoping for Hope: Shoots and Sprouts.”

That’s us.

Am I a Random Act of Hope?

Hope is our calling.

Early last evening I was at a wedding reception and an old timer called me over. I knelt on the floor on one knee and she said, “I want to tell you something. Two years ago you said in a sermon that one can use their rosary not just for Hail Mary’s. You said, 'Just pick up a rosary and say on the 59 beads, "Come Holy Spirit!" It will only take two minutes.'" Then she said, “I’ve been doing that every morning for the last 2 years.”

Now that was a Random Act of Hope. Praise God. Amen.