2nd Sunday of Advent – Year A
Deacon Tom Vert
Preached: December 7, 2025
“Wouldn’t it be nice?”
When I was reflecting on the first reading this week, I was thinking to myself that the summary for the reading should be “wouldn’t it be nice”.
Wouldn’t it be nice if:
- The wolf and the lamb hung out together
- The leopard and the goat were friends
- The calf and the lion walked side by side in peace
- The baby sits by the snake’s den with no fear
- There would be no harm to anyone, and the city would live in peace
I think we all think this way sometime, don’t we? We wish for what could be and that everything would work out the right way as we envision it.
Wouldn’t it be nice if:
- Russia would leave the Ukraine, and everything would go back to the way it was
- If the water and air were pure and we had a sustainable plan for the earth
- If we didn’t have 10% of the people in Canada with 53% of the wealth
- If there was no need for food banks or homeless shelters and we have meaningful work for all at a living wage
- If cancer, diabetes, and strokes didn’t exist
- If families and friends all got along perfectly and everyone was in harmony
This dream for an ideal world in which everything is perfect, may make us feel good, inside for a moment, but in reality, we get very frustrated because the world that exists is nothing like this.
Why isn’t my family as joyful as all those others that are posting on Facebook and Instagram with their perfect baking? Why can’t I have the perfect boss and colleagues like others I see posted about on LinkedIn?
The question of “wouldn’t it be nice” unfortunately can focus us what we don’t have, or can’t enjoy, why the grass is greener over there, and really is why can’t the world be the way I want it?
In the readings today though, we have a message that the world has been and is broken, however, there is a message of hope.
St. Paul says in the second reading, “may the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to think in harmony” , and harmony means to accept things the way they are, and with this acceptance, you can then move forward.
We move forward as St. Paul tells the Romans and us…” that by endurance and encouragement…we might have hope”!
We have hope because we endure one day at a time, not on our own, but through the strength of God’s presence with us in our daily prayer.
We are encouraged to keep moving forward positively by four things:
1. The Scriptures which give us messages of God’s love in times of trial like Joseph and Mary received when they had to live in Egypt for three years.
2. We have the lives of the saints who also endured suffering and pain, but saw God’s love in the struggles, like St. Monica’s tears which aided St. Augustine’s conversion to the faith.
3. And we have the harmony and love of those around us…key friends, colleagues, parishioners or maybe even strangers who give us a smile, a word of encouragement, a helping hand or a kind gesture.
4. The knowledge that Christ comes again in this Christmas season to remind us that God’s love enters the world in the quietest of ways, but from the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are planted in our hearts, we can know a strength beyond all understanding.
We may not see the “good fruit” that John the Baptist talks about in the gospel immediately, but we know in our hearts, that God is at work in the silence.
We might not see justice flourishing and fullness of peace like we sang in the psalm today or tomorrow, but we might see the glimmers of it next week, next month or next year.
So, this week, let us look closely at those around us, and maybe we can plant the seeds of joy, hope and love in our interactions with others, and maybe, just maybe…the world will be a little more pleasant…. wouldn’t it be nice?
