On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

As we look about the world we see little more than the bad.

We see evil, poverty, despair, ruthlessness, greed, lust, envy, sloth. It looks like the seven deadly sins on steroids. Evil seems to be pumped up.

Then we look at our lowly Church.

It is small. A couple hundred congregants here, forty or fifty somewhere else.

We see fewer children in church, more elderly. Almost no one present on weekdays or Holy Days of obligation, fewer and fewer on Sundays.

We wonder, how can the Holy Church survive against the ways of the world? How can the Holy Church compete against basketball, baseball, football, soccer, late night partying, or exhaustion from work? How can the truth – which can only be found in the teaching of Jesus Christ as passed down through the Church – compete against a society where people would rather find their own way, their own truth, their own definitions?

Whenever we feel a bit glum, depressed, and whenever we feel our hope is fading, think of Jesse.

Brothers and sisters,

Literally, the stump of Jesse is Jesse’s inability to produce.

His line of descendants was dying off. Jesse’s line was dried up and had lain dormant for 600 years. There was no holy king descended from David on Israel’s throne, only a pawn of Rome.

The king was an Edomite, a convert to Judaism, and a Hellenist at heart. He was corrupt and cruel. He literally killed off the Hasmonean Dynasty and after Jesus’ birth tried to kill off the last shoot from Jesse, the heir to David’s throne.

The Jews of that day certainly could empathize with the way we feel.

They saw people working on their own terms. The Chief Priests and Pharisees laid burdens on people, and as Jesus said, they themselves will not move them with their finger. Holiness was in short supply, and truth – as Pilate said – Truth, what does that mean?

When John showed up and said:

—Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!—

Could anyone possibly have believed him? Would anyone jump up and say that they were going to be victorious. Wouldn’t your average normal Israelite, and especially their leaders, think John either insane or subversive?

Brothers and sisters,

What most people missed was that the shoot did sprout, and that shoot is the Lord, the promised Messiah and Son of God.

By lineage Jesus came as the son of David. In reality He came as true God and true man. He is the promised one who changes everything.

We get all warm and fuzzy when we hear about lions and lambs, children and vipers. Those phrases are symbolic of how Jesus’ coming changed the world.

So when we look at the world and feel hope slipping we must remember that the the world has been changed in Jesus’ coming and that the Holy Church lives. It lives even in the face of the world because it is holy. It is filled with the Holy Spirit and proclaims every truth necessary for salvation.

It lives in the promise Jesus gave:

—lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

Those who enter the doors of the Holy Church through baptism are made its sons and daughters and are grafted onto the vine, the Body of Christ.

As the Body of Christ the Holy Church lives, grows, and maintains hope. She is true to who she is.

The Holy Church lives as the beacon of the one, true, holy, and universal faith, taught without compromise or error.

Friends,

Our message is one and it is subversive.

The world does not want to hear that there is one truth, one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those tied to the world would rather live in the lonely desperation of crafting their own system of belief, or adopting any one that might be convient at the moment. The world does not want to play by the rules of a God who would die for it. The world balks at saying:

`We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

The world does not want to face the one who Isaiah described as follows:

Not by appearance shall he judge,—¨
nor by hearsay shall he decide,—¨
but he shall judge the poor with justice,—¨
and decide aright for the land’s afflicted.—¨
He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth,—¨
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.—¨
Justice shall be the band around his waist,—¨
and faithfulness a belt upon his hips.—¨

Jesus has come!

In this Advent season we recall that the would is filled with hopelessness. We stand against that hopelessness. We are here to celebrate our hope and to prepare ourselves, members of His Holy Church, to carry out His mission.

Go out there today and every day going forward. Tell of our hope.

Tell everyone you meet, I am a Catholic, a child of the Holy Church, committed to be a servant of God, His adopted son, his adopted daughter. Regardless of looks, regardless of appearances, regardless of the world’s direction, the truth is simply this – Jesus has come and has given us the truth. The Church lives this and I intend to live it. Join me at St. Paul in saying:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Amen.