Monday of the First Week of Advent
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks; One nation will not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. —Isaiah 2:4
The above verse of the prophet Isaiah (2:4) is surely familiar. It was referenced by early Church Fathers Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. We hear it “rapped” in the musical Hamilton and recited in Amanda Gorman’s poem composed for President Biden’s inauguration of 2017. Quoted in President Washington's farewell address, other presidents swore their oath to the constitution on family Bibles turned to this verse. Cited in the Egypt-Israel peace agreement of Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin, the sculpture “Let us beat swords into plowshares" graces the front of the United Nations building. To be sure, this text is familiar to us.
Sadly, as we light the first Advent candle and hope for the Prince of Peace, they ring hollow. Division and vitriol rule the day and are even shockingly normalized. Millions who call themselves Christians attack and even persecute the most vulnerable and weakest among us. Bullying has become the modus operandi in our politics. Yet at the dismissal of every Mass, fortified with Word and Eucharist, we are commissioned to bring peace into our part of the world, right where we live. No effort is too small or insignificant.
We can only begin where we find ourselves in our day to day. What part of your life calls for plowshare instead of swords? Pruning hooks instead of spears? Make peacemaking your priority as we begin this full week of preparing for the "little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay” and the glorious Christ who will come at the end of time to be our judge.
“The holidays” can be stressful and even the closest of families have an expired shelf life, even more so in our era of political strife. Last Christmas was spent with friends who had two rules: leave your politics at the door and your phone in a basket provided.
If tension and disagreements enter in may we ask ourselves, “How can I defuse this?” “How can I bring love to the fore and not hate?” “How can the Christ light shine here?”
—Timothy J. Cronin