2nd
Sunday of Advent
Cycle A
December 4, 2016
Forest Fires
I have
never seen a forest fire, except on TV news reports.
But I
would say that they look fearsome. In
recent years, there have been some very large fires in our country.
These forest
fires can have several causes. They can
be intentional or accidental.
An
intentional fire can be lit by someone who may or may not realize the impact of
what they are doing. An accidental fire
can be caused by a campfire that is not fully extinguished.
Whether
intentional or accidental, a forest fire can cause great destruction. There can be great loss of trees and of
personal property and even of human life.
The Promise of
Forest Fires
An
amazing truth of nature is that there is promise and hope hidden within the
very destruction caused by a forest fire.
New
growth can and will happen. The timeline
for new growth after a fire varies, but one thing is certain.
The
ashes become a nutrient for new growth.
Eventually, new shoots of life will sprout from the earth or even from the
stumps of trees.
This is
the image that Isaiah uses in our first reading. Isaiah compares the recent kings of Israel –
the line of kings that began with Jesse, the father of King David – he compares
them to the stump of a tree.
These
recent kings have been so weak that they have brought devastation to the
country, much like a forest fire. And
yet, Isaiah says with beautiful alliteration, “A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse.”
Isaiah
offers promise and hope. New life will
eventually emerge here much as from a forest fire.
Our Forest Fires
Now we can also
experience forest fires in our own personal lives.
In a sense, some
of them are intentional – meaning that we bring them upon ourselves – and some
are accidental – meaning that they just happen to us. Our intentional fires might result from speaking
hurtful words to somebody, or from not applying ourselves to our school work,
or from falling away from God.
Our accidental
fires might come from the death of a loved one, or from being bullied in school
or put down at work. All of these
personal forest fires can also be destructive.
They can destroy
relationships and leave us alone and lonely.
They can destroy our immediate future and leave us feeling hopeless.
They can destroy
any inner sense of God’s presence and leave us feeling lost. And they can destroy self-esteem and leave us
feeling worthless.
The Promise of Our Forest Fires
But, as with the forest fires of nature, there is also promise and hope.
We can live in the hope of a shoot sprouting from a stump. This hope is a core message of Advent – the
hope of regeneration, of new life springing from destruction.
Usually, we cannot leave this totally up to God. We must do our part too.
So we may need to own up to our own behavior and even connect with a
counselor to assist us in changing our ways and rebuilding a relationship. We may need to work day by day to develop our
potentials and build a future.
We may need to try the Sacrament of Reconciliation and allow our sense of
oneness with God to be rekindled. And we may need to rediscover our own
self-worth by being with persons who build up and not tear down.
So yes, hope is not passive. It
demands that we do our part.
But we do this because we have the promise and hope extended by Isaiah
and by Jesus. With this, our forest
fires can give way to new life: “A shoot
shall sprout from the stump of Jesse.”
