There’s an old joke. “I’m an optimist. I believe the glass is half full, but it is full of poison.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m only half Irish but I think most of me relates to that fun and tragic part of my heritage. A sense of “expect the worst and hope for the best” attitude and while I’ve had my share of fun, gone from me is any trace of the Latin party I grew up around in Miami. I’m Caribbean by way of Joyce’s Dublin.
Though a cynic I am not.
So it is with joy and excitement that I breathe in this first reading the Church gifts us this Advent season. “For God will show all earth your splendor,” the prophet promises us. I love the bravado of it (another Irish trait). Nowhere in this reading do you sense that the writer is in any way doubtful of what we are being told. For all of its hope, this Advent reading is not a very hope-filled reading, there’s no sense of doubt in it, “For God will show all the earth your splendor.” That sounds pretty confident, the writer even tells us that “God has commanded” us to feel positive. It was always my understanding that in order to have hope, one must have doubt; there should be some uncertainty in order to hope. After all, hope isn’t the same as belief. Or is it?
So I will admit maybe I’m wrong (not an Irish trait). Perhaps the hope of Advent doesn’t tell us that the Lord, might come, but that He will come, as certainly as the sun will rise and the snow will fall, we may not know the day, but He will come. Hope is not a desire, like I always thought, but an expectation. The dying woman fully expects there to be heaven awaiting the long hallway. The child knows her mother will give her water if asked. This is the hope of our Advent season, to be a confident city, “Up, Jerusalem!” The prophet tells us, stop desiring these things; expect these amazing things to happen! Believe!
I’ve never been much of a fan of pretty prayers, found painted on stones or bookmarks. (Again, the dour Irish thing). Though my favorite prayer is probably the man’s plea to Christ in the Gospel of Mark, as plain spoken as the guys in the pub, “Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)! Now that is something to be optimistic about. Happy Advent.
I’ll be seeing you,
Elliot