WORDS: 

SWORDS  INTO  PLOWSHARES, 

SPEARS  INTO  PRUNING  HOOKS 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Monday in the First Week of Advent is, “Words: Swords Into Plowshares, Spears Into Pruning Hooks.”

Today’s first reading from Isaiah 2:1-5 talks about hammering swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. These words – Isaiah 2:4 – appear on a wall across the street from United Nations headquarters in New York City – but also in our hearts and minds.

How many people down through the centuries – when seeing tanks and canons – roll by in parades -  had the thought, “What a waste of money!”

How many then said, “Why couldn’t we use all this money to feed and educate and house the poor – to rebuild the highways and the bridges – to fill up the potholes – to improve our nursing homes and hospitals?

A FANTASY

During the cold war, I had a fantasy – that the United States – had built 100,000 missals – and secretly put the money that would pay for its insides – nuclear explosives and technology – inside the missiles. Then the United States announced to the world  – especially to the Soviet Union – that we had these powerful missiles in place – in missile silos – all around the world. Then when the Soviet Union goes broke trying to match our weapons – we announce to the world that for the sake of peace - we’re dismantling our weapons – but in reality taking the money out of these empty missile  shells.

WORDS

Wonderful thought… this melting down our weapons – and using the money elsewhere.

But it remains a thought.

Wars and rumors of war will always be us.

When we think those thoughts – it’s always about others – and people out there. After all – most of us are not makers of swords and spear.

But if we apply that thought  to words – to our tongues  - then we can put it into practice every day of our lives.

We’ve all heard the saying, “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

If you give that saying lots of thought – we’d have to say, “Words can hurt us – and hurt us big time – and hurt us for a long time.

Which are more powerful a weapon: swords – or swords without the “W” – which is “words”?

I would dare say that people have words from a mother or a father, a spouse or a teacher, from way back – that still hurt us.

People remember a word said to us 27 years ago – a cutting comment – that is still stuck in us. We say things like, “It was like being stabbed in the back by another.”

WORD REVERSAL

People also realize the positive power of words – words that build us up – words that also last for years.

CONCLUSION

So words can be a blessing and a curse.

Words can be a wall or a bridge.

Words can be a welcoming word or a word that shuts us out.

Words can be a compliment – an affirmation – a plow – a pruning hook – that helps us grow – and grow till we become a harvest of rich and juicy fruits – to become strawberry jam –to butter and then juicify the bread of another. Amen.