In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“We might have hope” (Rom 15: 4).

As the first reading, we heard one of the most beautiful and inspired passages of the Bible, incomparable poetry! Isaiah talks about the coming of the Root of Jesse, the descendant of David, the Messiah, who will change the world, humankind and cosmos: “Then 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, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors […]; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on my holy mountain” (Is 11: 6-8).

“We might have hope.”

However, when we read the newspaper, when we watch the news on TV and when we look around, what we see is the wolf eating the lamb, the leopard attacking the kid, the young lion striking the calf and the little child running away from them. The bear is threatening the cow, the lion is eating meat. The baby is playing by the cobra’s den but the child is bitten when he lays his hand on the adder’s lair. There is harm and ruin on the mountain!

The Root of Jesse has already come. We already have two thousand years of Christianity. However, everything seems to be the same. Nothing seems changed. There are conflicts, wars and immorality in the world.

“We might have hope.”

Where could we see the prophesy of Isaiah realized? How could what the prophet says not be false poetry? Has anything really changed at all? I find the answer to this question in one of the names of the Messiah: the Root of Jesse. I think that the key word is “root.” We cannot see the roots of a tree. However, the roots are the support and through them the plant receives water and nourishment.

The change that Jesus brought was radical, in the root. He is the new root. After him, there is a new root in the world and in humankind. There is new life, invisible for now but it is real. Sometimes we can see it emerge at the surface. If we think about the history of the Church, we find shoots emerging from the root in the light of day. We could especially see this in the saints and in all the women and men of good will mysteriously touched by grace.

The figures of saints such as Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, John of God, Camillus of Lellis, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac, Giuseppe B. Cottolengo, John Bosco, Luigi Orione and Teresa of Calcutta, to name but a few, show us that the words of Isaiah are true.

“We might have hope.”

In today’s gospel, John the Baptist invites us to conversion: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” To start seeing the realization of what Isaiah prophesied, we need the path of conversion. We need deeper insight about people and things, insight that sees beyond the surface: a vision of the heart.  In The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

“We might have hope.”

For the moment, the essential is invisible. That is why we live in hope. One day it will be clear to all.

Today, we ask Our Lord to grant that we may start seeing and living what he promised to us, for the sap of life coming from the root to spread in us and in the world around us.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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