Scripture Reflection - December 7, 2025

Second Sunday of Advent

First Reading: Isaiah 11:1-10

Second Reading: Romans 15:4-9

Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

Let Us Hang our Hearts on HOPE

This Advent season, when so many in the world are searching for the meaning of HOPE, we are invited each day to take a few moments and shift our gaze away from what ordinarily preoccupies us and contemplate the signs that herald Hope’s coming.

For example, here in Blauvelt, our gorgeous magnolia tree, stripped of her big, broad leaves, has begun to display velvety, gray buds that will blossom radiantly and fragrantly in Spring. Similarly, milkweeds, with seeds suspended like trapeze artists on silken threads, are strewn across the browning earth. Acorns and pinecones are all over, often underfoot.

Each one of these signs contains our Creator- God’s promise that life, renewal, and Hope are just about to break forth around us, and of course, within us. Yes, we must wait for it, but the scriptures promise us that HOPE and new life will surely come!

The Advent prophecy of Isaiah counsels us this Advent, that it is precisely, and predictably from what appears to be the end, that a new beginning, HOPE, in some form, will rise. “ A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,”  the prophet proclaims. Look for it! Expect it! Our faith-filled vigilance and yearning will energize HOPE’s emergence.

Can we hang our hearts on this promise of God who, creates, un-creates, and recreates everything and everyone all the time? Can we dare to look at the places within us and around us, where we experience hopelessness or perhaps dead ends? Can we imagine that from this very space, something new and life-giving is being summoned forth?  Look for it! Expect it!

Advent is a faith-filled season. It’s your faith and mine through which our Creator God will generate the new life and new Hope for which we wait. As we anticipate HOPE’s arrival in us and our world, let’s not miss the signs that it is coming! The signs are all around us. This Advent, hang your heart on that!

Sr. Arlene Flaherty, OP