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
