HOPING TO SEE 

SIGNS OF HOPE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this First Sunday in Advent [C] is, “Hoping to See Signs of Hope.”

We begin the season of Advent today. One of themes of Advent is hope - so that’s the theme of my homily for today: “Hoping to See Signs of Hope.”

TO BE HUMAN IS TO HOPE TO SEE SIGNS OF HOPE

To be a human being is to be a person that hopes.

Sometimes people give up hope - but thank God there are folks around who don’t give up hoping.

Who are those people in our life who placed their hope in us -especially when we were down? Read your inner autobiography [written or unwritten] or inner monologue and name the names.

Grandparents hope their grandkids who are into drugs or alcohol or disastrous relationships wake up and shape up and get their life in gear again.

Recently I’m at the hors d’oeuvres part of a wedding reception….  A mother is holding this beautiful baby - just standing there in the chit chat area - just outside the big dining room. I do what everyone does. I start smiling at the baby and making gestures to make him or her laugh. It works. Cutest little baby…. Maybe 6 months old…. It’s great to spot a baby in the crowd when one knows hardly anybody. A grandfather comes over to me and whispers in my ear, “If you have any magical water up your sleeve, give the baby a quick baptism, will you.” Then he walks away.

I pause. I say to myself, “What was that all about?” An answer comes:  he wants to see signs that his kids and grandkids get going with the faith he has placed his hope in and hopes they do too.

Having a kid baptized is a sign of hope.

To be human is to be a person that hopes to see signs of hope.

People look for signs when it comes to  the weather, the country, the economy, the marriages we’re in. We want good weather - good times - good things happening for all.

We are people of hope. We love a good hope story.

We see a dog limping or a bird with a broken wing or we hear about someone with cancer and we hope they heal - get going again - walk straight and fly right.

THE SURVIVOR TREE

I was talking with someone recently - but I forget who it was - and where it was. I keep on seeing signs that I seem to be a regular passenger on the Senior Moment bus.  Whoever, this person was told me that they were on a bus tour that went up to New York City and then down to where the twin towers of the World Trade Center stood.

Besides seeing all the names of those who died that September 11 - in New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon, as well as the 6 who died at an earlier attack on the buildings in the 1990’s, the person who was telling me this story - told me about the Survivor Tree at the World Trade Center Memorial.

I had never heard about this - so I went to Google -  a friend who has a much better memory than I do. I read all about the Survivor Tree and why it impresses so many people.

Everyone loves a story of hope. Everyone loves a story of survival.

If I have the story correct, the tree is a pear tree that was planted in the 1970’s. In October of 2001 the tree was discovered in the midst of the rubble. It was 8 feet tall and badly burned. It had one living branch on it. It was dug up and brought to a nursery in the Bronx on November 11, 2001.

It was burnt and covered with ash - so it needed a lot of care - which happened. Did anyone scream, “What a waste of tax payers’ money?” I don’t know.

By the spring of 2002, Richard Cabo - the primary caretaker of the tree - said it would make it. It did. The tree grew.

In 2010, the tree was uprooted in a storm. It was replanted and continued to grow. In December of 2010 it was brought back down from the Bronx to the World Trade Center and replanted. It has become  a significant part of what you see when you go to the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City.

The tree keeps growing. It’s over 30 feet high. People hearing the story report that it gives them hope.   It suffered no damage with Hurricane Sandy.

To be human is to look for signs of hope - like that tree - like the whole World Trade center - slowly getting there after all these years and all these controversies.

SCRIPTURES

Today’s readings are Advent readings - telling us of the struggles - that can hit our world - yet we hold out for hope.

In the first reading Jeremiah says: Okay every thing is going to pot. However, a new shoot of life will shoot out from the family tree of David. That’s one of those biblical images of hope. A tree might  be cut down, yet surprise, if you look at it, you spot a tiny branch of life has appeared - growing off its side. There is always hope.

The second reading from 1 Thessalonians - the oldest of the New Testament writings - urges us to be symbols of hope by our behavior - by leading good lives. Good example. Good example. Good example. People spot those signs of growth shooting off the sides of people.

The Gospel for today is from Luke - who will be our Gospel writer for Year C all this coming year. He says, when it looks like everything is coming to an end - there is hope. Even though the seas are roaring and the earth and sky are shaking, you’ll “see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power and great glory.”  Then the great message: “When these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.”

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “Hoping to See Signs of Hope.”

We begin the Advent Season today. It’s a season of great hope.

St. Alphonsus - the founder of the Redemptorists - whose statue is up here above our altar - used to like to say the 3 great signs of Christ’s presence and Redemption are the crib, the Cross and the Tabernacle. All three can bring us to Christ.

Each year we celebrate Advent and another Christmas as seasons to increase our hope and the coming and recoming and coming again of Christ.

The big Advent prayer is just 3 or 4 words: “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!”

For starters then we call to Jesus who calls us to follow him. And hopefully our children and grandchildren will follow our lead. Amen.

OOOOOOOOOO

PICTURES

Picture on top:  I forgot where I took this picture.

Picture of Survivor Tree: From Wikimedia, June 16, 2012 - Source PumpkinSky