We started the season of Advent with a wakeup call – stay awake for we do not know the hour when the Lord will come again. It is a perennial call because every year could be that year. It is a daily call because every day could be our last to meet the Lord. We saw why and how to stay awake following the three comings of Christ: in history (the Incarnation), in mystery (the Eucharist) and in glory (the Second Coming).
Today, we are called to see the creativity of God as He prepares us for that day. We are given a foretaste of what the days of the Messiah will look like and how to maintain those days in our midst. The days of the Lord shall be beautiful and peaceful. Those days shall be beautiful because of the Lord’s mercy and peaceful because of His justice by which He shall rule the land. Anyone who invests in beauty or works of art knows that beauty is neither cheap nor easy. The process to arrive at a beautiful work of art is a messy one. We cannot judge the work of art from the process. We shall only able to enjoy it at the end. Life on earth is a process of God’s creative work. The fullness of the product can only be seen from the divine perspective and at the end of time. Advent is a time when God Himself comes to visit His creation to assure us that the messiness of the world is not without purpose; it is still in the process of His creative activity. All we need is a lot of patience and trust. How apt is St. Paul’s observation of God in the second reading when he describes Him as: “The God of endurance and encouragement.” God knows how much patience we need during this time of being fashioned into the image of His beloved Son and so He comes to our aid to show us how to have even a foretaste of His glorious project before the end of time. I would like to show today that the creativity of God is unparallel as: 1) God creates the most beautiful world not only out of nothing, but also from opposites; 2) We can maintain His beautiful and peaceful world by imitating His justice and mercy; 3) The Eucharist is a foretaste of the beauty, peace, and rest we seek in God.
God’s Creativity from Nothingness and Opposites
Isaiah prophesies that “On that day (the Day of the Lord), a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse.” For many in construction, when they see a stump, they think of a dump where they can dig it up and throwaway. A stump for many is either an obstacle or trash to be discarded. Not only will the Savior be born from a stump, but He comes to show us the true and saving perspective of all stumps – they are the foundation of our rootedness. Such is the reason Isaiah maintains quickly, “And from his roots a bud shall blossom.” God does not invent the wheel, and neither should we. Trying to deny tradition is under looking our stump. Advent is a time when we called to appreciate the foundation of our faith. All that has gone before us is for us. Saint Paul could not have put it better when He stated in the very first line of today’s second reading: “Brothers and sisters, whatever was written previously was written for our instruction.” We can equally say God has prepared all of history until now for us.
God creates His beautiful world not only from the nothingness of the stump, but also from opposites unimaginable. Isaiah says, on that day, “The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together; the cow and the bear shall be neighbors.” And we can add: “Democrats and Republicans shall eat from the same bowl. How is this even possible? Isaiah gives us the clue when he concludes: “There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea.” Imagine that! In the words of Jesus, all shall know the truth, the truth that sets us free. This truth is manifold in our world today and so evident in the soccer world cup currently going on as we watch countries in war play against each other and embrace one another in the spirit of sportsmanship. It is the truth that beauty lies not in uniformity but in diversity; that the diversity of the various races is meant to be an expression of the beauty of the one race God created – the human race.
How to Maintain the Beautiful Creativity of God
Justice maintains order in God’s creation; mercy gives allowance for growth. Without justice, the world will be chaotic and absurd; without mercy, it will be tyrannical. Advent is a time when we are called to prepare the way for the Lord by repenting of our sins and showing mercy like the Lord does to us. The Baptist begins his preaching with a cry for repentance: “A voice of one crying out in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” Repentance is an act of justice to the Lord whose love we have wounded by our sinfulness. We can imitate the Lord’s mercy by rescuing the poor when he cries out, the afflicted who has no one to help him and attending to the lowly and the poor” (Ps 72:12-13).
After Cameroon’s great victory over Brazil on Friday, two names kept flooding Cameroonian social media groups: Onana and Epassy. Epassy was a reserved goalkeeper who replaced Onana who was being disciplined. Prior to the game, many criticized the change, but after the game many praised the change as the “stump” became the man of the day. It made me remember a famous saying from one of my rectors: none of us is indispensable. God can use anyone for His purposes. God is never outdone in creativity. Though God is merciful, He is also just. St. Francis de Sales summarizes how God’s justice and mercy operate simply thus: “if we take His mercy for granted, we invoke His justice.” The fruit of justice is peace: “Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.”
The Eucharist as a Foretaste of God’s Creativity
The purpose of beauty is to draw us in so that we may encounter the good, and in doing so cherish it and rest in it. How right was St. Augustine when He maintained that, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. The Eucharist is the beauty of God made receptible for us in the simplest of forms – food. The process of this food is the messiest of all of God’s creative processes – the sacrifice of the cross. In receiving Holy Communion, we receive Jesus Christ, the Beauty of God made incarnate for us, the author of all that is true, good and beautiful. As we receive Him today, may He fill us with His spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and strength, so that we may know how to let the wolf of our anger be a sacrificial lamb for our reconciliation; the venom of our words be transformed to words of encouragement; and the fear of the Lord to enable us have a perpetual reverence for all His creatures, now and for eternity.