The season of Advent is a hopeful season. Hope is such an important Christian virtue. Hope is more than optimism. We can be optimistic about all kinds of things but, strictly speaking, the object of hope is always God. Hope is rooted in faith. We are hopeful because we believe in a God who can bring life out of death, light out of darkness. It is above all, in dark times that we need hope. In these dark days and dark times, Advent, the season of hope, is very timely.

We can be tempted in dark times to look at everything and at everyone with jaded eyes. Saint Paul encourages us to look at life, and, especially, at people with hopeful eyes instead, even in dark times. To look at people with hopeful eyes is to be alert to all that is good in their lives and to celebrate that goodness. It is to name, to ourselves and to others, what they have done more than what they have failed to do; to be mindful of what people could become with God’s help.

Today more than ever, we need to look at ourselves and at others with those kinds of hopeful eyes. God’s good work has only begun in us. We are a work in progress, and, in spite of our failings, God will keep on working to bring the good work He has been doing in ourselves to completion. This I must say again: God only asks us to cooperate with His ongoing work in our lives so He can bring it to completion, and reach ‘the perfect goodness which Jesus Christ produces in us’.

The Gospel narrative this weekend speaks of a voice crying in the wilderness, the voice of John the Baptist. His voice is a voice of hope, announcing the coming of the Lord through the wilderness and declaring that all flesh will see His salvation. The Lord is always present in our various wildernesses, working to bring light out of darkness and life out of death. Because of that Good news, we are all called to be hopeful people, voices of hope in the wilderness.

The great call of Advent is to receive the Lord’s daily presence, His daily coming. Turning towards the Lord to receive His coming means turning away from attitudes or actions that this great encounter from happening. It means creating a little bit more space for the Lord in our lives by turning towards Him in prayer – the quiet, inviting prayer of Advent, which finds expression in the simple and yet profound little prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”

Sono semipro grate,
Father Erick

(For the 2nd Sunday of Advent)