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Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Promise still has its time

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Having just come through another political season, we have been inundated with all kinds of promises. Candidates have told various groups of people what they will do or not do, and it didnā€™t seem to matter how outrageous some of these promises were. At the same time, we have gotten used to the fact that political promises arenā€™t worth very much. After the votes are in, the candidates have gotten what they want, and so their promises often disappear, never to be seen again.

We are currently in the middle of the Christian season of Advent. The Church presents this as a time of promise, and some of the promises we hear may seem just as outrageous as those of the politicians. It is during this time that many passages from the prophet Isaiah are highlighted. These include such passages as: ā€œThey shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.ā€ (Isaiah 2:4);ā€œThe 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, with a little child to guide them.ā€ (Isaiah 11:6); ā€œThen will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared. Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing.ā€ (Isaiah 35:5-6)

In effect, these promises are all saying that all of creation will live in peace and harmony. All this is Isaiahā€™s prophecy as to what will happen when the Messiah comes and the Kingdom is in place. In our age of being skeptical of grand promises, how do we take these?

As Christians we believe that the Messiah to come is Jesus Christ and that his coming also marks the beginning of the coming of the Kingdom. But after so many years, the promised harmony has not happened. Many people would look at this with the same eye as we would look at the promises of a politician.

But faith tells us that we need to look at the world with different eyes, not to see things as we would normally see them. He tells us himself in the Gospel that the Kingdom is like a mustard seed ā€” it starts out as a very small thing but grows very large over time. So how does this work in light of these promises from Isaiah? Every time two sides put aside violence for peace, anything from two individuals to two nations, the Kingdom grows a little bit. Every time any aspect of creation is cared for, the Kingdom grows a little bit. Every time any healing happens, the Kingdom grows a little bit. And each time the Kingdom grows, the promise becomes more of a reality.

So during this time of promise, it is important for people of faith to see with the eyes of faith, to see how the Kingdom is growing around us. And then let us make the commitment to do our part in seeing that the Kingdom continues to grow. We can do so by being at peace with others, caring for Godā€™s creation, bringing healing to others however we can and helping others to see and to hear the ways of God that they have grown blind and deaf to because of the cynicism in our society not to believe anyoneā€™s promises.

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Fr. Kenneth Taylor is pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church and St. Rita Catholic Church. He can be reached at fatherkt@mailhaven.com.

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