Second Sunday of Advent | Is. 11: 1-10
“A shoot shall spring from the stump of Jesse.”
These past few months, I have been living and working in Ireland. It seems that you cannot go a mile on this emerald isle without encountering a “ruin.” I am drawn to them. Their spaciousness, gorgeous stone-on-stone architecture, and their age hold the story and the spirits of people who once built, worshiped, and lived within them. I feel the palpable energy that these structures hold and draw upon this energy as I walk into them. While they are referred to as “ruins, I prefer to regard these ancient structures as sacred thresholds between the past, present, and future. They remind me of how we have all emerged from ancestors who, despite the threats, travails, devastations, and dead ends they may have experienced, live on in us. And so, these ancient ruins stand today as symbols of irrepressible hope, promise, and the unimaginable possibilities the ancient ones could never have dreamed they would bring to birth.
On this second Sunday of Advent, Isaiah boldly offers an extraordinary image regarding the emergence of a future, despite the terrifying prospects of a dead end that his community was experiencing. “A shoot shall spring from the stump of Jesse. A scion thrusts from the roots.” From the perspective of our time and our faith, we regard this description as foretelling the incarnation of God in Jesus.
This Advent reading illuminates the paschal paradox upon which our faith is rooted—hope emerges from within the improbabilities of life. The unimaginable future is already seeded deep within the darkness of that which cannot be seen. Invocations to “awaken” to this truth, as well as the recurrent prayer of longing, “O come,” are the essence of the Advent season.
For your reflection: Take time this week to reflect on how and where you experience a dead-end, a hopeless situation, or a “ruin” in your life or in our world.
Pray with one or both of these reflections:
“Hope emerges from within the improbabilities of life. The unimaginable future is already seeded deep within the darkness of that which cannot be seen.
“A shoot shall spring from the stump of Jesse.”
What Advent promise do these words extend to you?
What challenge?
What prayer do they evoke?
End your time of prayer with the simple invocation, “O come.”
-Sr. Arlene Flaherty, OP
Comments