The realities of planting and growth are never very far from biblical texts. The prophetic vision of Isaiah sees the coming Messiah as just that kind of kingdom and is compared to that ruthlessness that all farmers and gardeners know: what is fruitful is nurtured, but what fails to bear fruit is harshly treated. Images of plants and growth are not only beautiful images of God’s mysterious providence; they are also a summons to some hard laboring in the fields. It is in this way that we can hear John the Baptist’s call to prepare the way – and, in particular, his demanding call to repentance and the confession of sin. This turning over of our lives is like the toil of the plough turning over cold, hard ground; it is a necessary work for the blessings of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus brings us, to take root and grow in us. As St. Paul makes clear, it is “when we refuse to give up” that we learn the meaning of hope, and become able to befriend one another properly in Christ. This Advent hope is no passive, weak optimism. Christian hope is what makes sense of the hard labors of our daily life – the digging and the pruning; it is a hope that drives us on to build friendship and unity, to make crooked ways straight, for the coming of Christ into the lives of all people.
The Advent hopefulness that we celebrate today is not only a virtue built on God’s sure promises, but also a hope that calls to action – to the hard work of repentance, of changing the direction of the ways we live. St. Augustine is attributed with saying: “Hope has 2 daughters: their names are anger and courage. Anger that things are the way they are. Courage to make them the way they ought to be.” Augustine knew that, in the face of our own sins and those of others, we are not, as Christians, lamely to say, “Well, I hope it gets better.” Rather, we are to hope with that passionate action which grows from being rooted in the Father’s will for justice and peace, and conversion towards the kingdom. If we are to really learn hope better, let’s allow ourselves to be properly challenged by John the Baptist’s call to repentance – to know our sins, to repent of them and seek forgiveness from these we have hurt, and from the love of Christ expressed in the sacrament of reconciliation. Let’s actively treat others with the friendship with which God has treated us in Jesus. Perhaps there are 2 or 3 small changes of routine – small “conversions” – which can make this hope a concrete work of preparing the way for Christ to come into the lives of all we meet.