December 5, 2022
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the 2nd Sunday of Advent (Year A) on December 4, 2022 at The Paulist Center in Boston, MA. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72; Romans 15:4-9; and Matthew 3:1-12.
Our first reading and psalm express the beauty we will experience when God’s reign fully arrives. “Justice shall flourish in God’s time, and fullness of peace for ever,” proclaims Psalm 72. However, the Scriptures we hear today make it clear: the breaking forth of God’s justice requires radical changes to our existing social systems. In between mentioning the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the wolf being the guest of the lamb, Isaiah declares that God “shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.” John the Baptist, especially in Matthew’s telling, isn’t nearly as subtle: “You brood of vipers!” he shouts. “Even now, the axe lies at the root of the trees!”
The season of Advent can be summarized in 4 couplets, 1 for each week. Last week, the couplet was “Wake up!” This week, it’s “Shape up!”
We continue to prepare for God breaking into our world in new and exciting ways. Let us recall that we have been baptized into Christ’s radical mission of raising up the lowly, casting down the mighty, releasing captives, promoting justice, and seeking peace!
When I joined the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh nearly 22 years ago, they were commissioning composers to write Christmas songs for the choir and the Pittsburgh Symphony Brass – 6 fantastic musicians instead of the traditional brass quintet. Considering the unusual instrumentation, the great ensemble premiering the pieces, and the promise of a professional recording, some fantastic composers jumped at the opportunity.
I consider one piece we commissioned to be the greatest liturgical hymn written so far in the 21st century. If it didn’t require 10 instrumentalists and a huge choir, I think it would have become a staple of Christian Advent services, rather than the crowd-pleasing finale of symphonic Christmas concerts around the country.
Pittsburgh composer Glenn Rudolph began composing this piece in earnest in late July 2001, setting a poem based on today’s reading from Isaiah. But before he completed it, the terrorist attacks of September 11 occurred. Like many people, he spent several days too shaken to do much of anything. He wrote to us: “When I did come back to finishing the piece, I was at once moved by the appropriateness of the words, and struck by the irony that I would be composing this piece at this time… coincidence or divine providence.”
Advent is the season of waiting for God’s justice to flourish. Although we are making halting progress in eradicating violence against people due to differences of race, religious belief, gender, orientation, ability, or political leaning, social media makes aware how frequently brutal discrimination still occurs. Our criminal justice system still emphasizes retribution over rehabilitation. Our governments are unable to make difficult decisions regarding economic inequality, worker’s rights, healthcare, diplomacy, environmental degradation, and a whole host of other issues related to the dignity of human life here and abroad.
Advent is a season of waiting, but it’s supposed to be a season of waiting in joyful hope. Where do we find hope this Advent?
Every year on this Second Sunday, the Church explicitly connects the coming of God’s realm with our personal actions. I can think of no better set of Sunday readings to challenge us to address unfair social systems. John the Baptist demands that we prepare the way of the Lord. Isaiah and Psalm 72 link God’s justice to lifting up the poor, and St. Paul says that these readings encourage us to have hope.
How will Isaiah’s dream be fulfilled if we do not carry out Christ’s mandate to reconcile the world?
As we await the coming of Christ, we are called to be Christ’s body. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are to be Christ’s hands, feet, and voice to those in need of the saving message of the gospel.
“The Dream Isaiah Saw”
words by Thomas H. Troeger (c) 1994
music by Glenn L. Rudolph (c) 2001
Bach Choir of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Symphony Brass
R.J. Heid, Glen W. Schneider, and Jason Rummel, percussion
Neil Stahurki, organ
Peter Bianchi, baritone soloist
Brady Allred, conductor
(Turn the volume up, as the piece begins very quietly.)
Lions and oxen will sleep in the hay,
Leopards will join with the lambs as they play,
Wolves will be pastured with cows in the glade,
Blood will not darken the earth that God made.Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Life redeemed from fang and claw.Peace will pervade more than forest and field:
God will transfigure the violence concealed
Deep in the heart and in systems of gain,Ripe for the judgment the Lord will ordain.
Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Justice purifying law.Nature reordered to match God’s intent,
Nations obeying the call to repent,
All of creation completely restored,
Filled with the knowledge and love of the Lord.Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Knowledge, wisdom, worship, awe.