Advent
Not by appearance shall he judge… Isaiah 11:3
We could easily be confounded by the contrasts in today’s reading from Isaiah. What a countercultural, upside-down world, with the wolf a guest of the lamb, the lion eating hay like an ox, the baby playing right next door to a poisonous snake’s habitat. Does that holy mountain devoid of any harm or ruin sound too good to be true? Well, then, Isaiah suggests, we should sharpen our spiritual eyesight and look beyond appearances.
This is not some cockeyed optimism but a summons to live in genuine hope. It’s a call to act out of an unshakable conviction that sin and death will not have the final word, that an alternative worldview grounded in compassion, welcome and acceptance is possible.
During these Advent days, may we see beyond the surface, cultivate divine vision and work with God’s grace to hasten the coming of this longed-for, peaceable kingdom.
Sr. Chris Koellhoffer, I.H.M.
Originally published December 3, 2013
