Before I forget&
     
Advent
a time to dream
the strangest dreams...
swords
turned into ploughshares,
wolves
muzzling with lambs
and lions lying
next to new-born calves, while
a maiden-mother dances,
delighted to see
the impossible can be.
   -- Walter Bado, S.J.
     Just 90 days ago, September 11, we witnessed tragic events in our country.  Three months later we are in the season of Advent with its message of HOPE.  We Americans need HOPE... a HOPE that gives us understanding and reassurance.  We need to have hopeful dreams about the future.  Do you see God in the future, a God who bestows peace on all the people?
     The Old Testament readings every Sunday of Advent are from the prophet Isaiah.  I hope you really listen because we need words of encouragement from God.  If you are angry, and many people are, turn to Isaiah who tempers anger and proposes God's most holy desire for his people.  God's vengeance, if you will, seeks only to open the eyes of the blind, to unseal the ears of the deaf, and to assure that the lame will leap like deer and the tongues of the dumb will sing for joy.  But, our God wants more:  that the swords be hammered into ploughshares and spears with sickles& that there will be no more training for war.  Isaiah shouts:  no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God quite like you!
     As we pray for our country and for world peace, the Advent readings from Isaiah can be a source of strength as we try to discern where God is to be found during times of confusion and uncertainty.  Isaiah tells us to have courage and not to be afraid because what has been laid waste will bloom; God will support the weary hand and steady the feeble knees.  The shoot which springs from the stock of Jesse will be revealed for our wisdom and insight.  From the dry land, living waters will flow.  Isaiah also reminds us that God is disclosed in the lion and the lamb feeding side by side.  Then our eyes will be opened and we will se a CHILD leading us.
     December 25 we celebrate the birth of the CHILD that we follow.  We have our hymns and customs that bring out the best in us.  We think of that day 2000 years ago as a time of peace:  angels singing, shepherds having visions, magi bringing gifts, a young couple with a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.  But Palestine 2000 years ago was far from being a peaceful place.  The Romans occupied the country.  There was political uncertainty, poverty, terrorism.  Innocent people were slaughtered by foreign troops.  Into that situation and country, the Son of God was born.  God chose a people without any power.  The people were expecting a Messiah to lead them... there was an element of HOPE. 
     Christmas 2001... images of death and destruction have seeped into our souls.  Our feelings may be quite similar to the citizens of Palestine 2000 years ago.  They, too, read the prophet Isaiah speaking for God:  For those who hope in the Lord their weariness will vanish and they will soar on eagles' wings.   
     As we live in uncertain times, there is a reason to have hope.  Tell the story to children& this baby is a sign for all who seek peace on earth.  And the sign says to you...

Fr. Bill