1^st Sunday of Advent (A); November 30, 2025

Is 2:1-5.  Ps 122.  Rom 13:11-14.  Mt 24:37-44

Deacon Jim McFadden

         The first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of our preparation for the celebration of Christmas.  Today’s readings offer us a vision, which suggests that Advent is a time of hope and challenges.  This vision is one of lasting peace among nations which comes about if we reorient our lives as we await the fullness of God’s Kingdom.  If we accept this vision, then our hearts will be prepared for the birth of Christ.

         Isaiah, looking to the future, offers the hope that “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established at the highest mountain and raised above the hills.  All nations shall stream toward it” (Is 2:2).  A way of understanding Holy Mother the Church is “the Lord’s house,” in which she will be the primary means of bringing about the Kingdom of God.  Since her mandate, given by the Risen Christ, is to “…make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19), the Church is by nature universal, which is why we are catholic.  We are, indeed, brothers and sisters to everyone; no one is excluded.  As brethren to each other, we are obliged, if we are going to be faithful to our baptismal promises, to serve each other and be instruments of justice, which is the only enduring way to bring about peace.

         We hear this in the magnificent Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World): Christians are summoned by Christ and with the helpof Christ to secure “…among themselves a peace based on justice and love and in setting up the instruments of peace.

         “Peace is not merely the absence of war, nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies, nor is brought about by dictatorship.  Instead, it is rightly and appropriately called an enterprise of justice” (#78-79).  People of God, justice and peace are essential marks of the Kingdom of God.        

         Isaiah asserts that the Kingdom of God is coming right here and now provided that “They beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2:4b).  This very famous passage uttered in the 8^th century b.c. was made in the shadow of impending military defeat from the Assyrian armies that had already overrun the northern kingdom of Israel and now had their sights on Judah to the South.  The prophet’s hope was that all nations might come to know the God of Israel through acts of justice, which would bring peace to the world.  God would not be known through institutionalized violence.  That was the challenge of our Jewish brethren 2,800 years ago and it is our challenge as well.

         Isaiah was calling for a conversion from the preparation and practice of war to non-violence as we strive to promote the common good.  He is calling us as well to change our hearts.  He wants us to see as he does; that God is stronger than hate, violence, and oppression, that peace is stronger than war, and that God is stronger than death.

         That’s the vision that God is offering us.  The question is: do we want it?  If we do, then we have to change our hearts; we have to change the way we move about in our social, political, and economic domains.

         Isaiah’s vision seems to be saying that if we have no desire to be a peacemaker in a world torn by dissension and division, then how can we ever see God because the Christ Child is the Child of Peace!

         So, sisters and brothers, we are challenged to embody in our lives in this time in this place what it means to believe in the vision of Isaiah.  To do that we must turn our lives more consciously and directly to God and his Kingdom.  This is the starting point; it’s the preparation for Christmas.  Advent becomes the time to pray, to examine, to clear away what keeps us from being peacemakers.  It means that we live out of a Christ-centeredness whereby we say with St. Paul, “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20).  With Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we can find concrete ways to be the peacemakers that Isaiah envisioned.

Let us call upon the Blessed Virgin Mary that during this holy season of Advent that she may show us specific ways to create peace within our own heart and within all of our relationships.  Amen.

Reflection Questions:

1. When you hear “They beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2:4b), how does that resonate with you.  Do you take it seriously? 
2.  How do you respond to Isaiah’s call   for a conversion from the preparation and practice of war to non-violence in order to promote the common good?
3. If we’re not willing to embrace the challenge to be a peacemaker, can we ever engage the Christ Child who is the Child of Peace?