Sunday Homily, 30 November 2025 - Fr Paul Rowse, OP

“Swords into ploughshares and spears into sickles” is such a familiar trope as to be cliché.  But times when the Hebrew people prepared for war were indeed many, lengthy, and varied.  Abraham had a standing army, which he used in Genesis 14 to rescue his kidnapped nephew, Lot.  Joshua gave his men three whole days to gather sufficient provisions for their next great campaign.  And the Maccabees’ rebellion was able to organise itself to such a degree that they retook the walled city of Jerusalem.  War-making is indeed quite an industry.

And then we come to Isaiah the prophet: the ancient rabbis tell us that Isaiah’s uncle was King Amaziah of Judah.  Amaziah needed troops.  So, he ordered all the men who were over the age of 20 who could handle a sword and shield to be recruited – thus, he acquired 300,000 conscripts, not to mention the 100,000 mercenaries he also engaged. What an impression this must have made on his young nephew, Isaiah, our prophet.  Looking out of his uncle’s palace window upon the many thousands arranging themselves for combat, Isaiah exclaims to his countrymen and his kin: “House of Jacob, come; let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

It's in the context of this war-making that God gives Isaiah a vision of true peace in the land.  Isaiah sees the mountain of God's temple (not the temple itself) raised high.  He sees that God’s authority is spread over every nation beginning with Israel.  He sees the nations coming willingly to discover the will of God through the law.  And he sees abiding peace.

If we asked Isaiah whether his vision has been fulfilled, he would say both Yes and No. Yes, it has been fulfilled, in part, because the temple of the God of Jacob is the flesh of Christ, and it was raised up from the earth on Good Friday; all the nations gather around the cross of the king of the Jews, and there in Christ’s Church there is peace.  And yet, also No: Isaiah's prophecy has not been completely fulfilled because not all the world knows the peace of Christ and there are Christians who are all too ready to flip the switch on the war machine to turn it on.

With the prophet Isaiah, therefore, we tire of the trouble.  We are sick of sickness and we are war-weary.  We dream of justice and long for peace.  We'd much rather that everyone knew Christ, and so would know the peace that his Kingdom brings.  We tire of the trouble.

When we are tired of the trouble, we should examine what we think should happen next.  What appears in our mind’s eye when war is in the air?  The answer here will show us how best to prepare for the Lord’s Advent.  We might say things like: have a summit; redraw the map; send the folks home; just coexist.  And some of those may and ought to happen.  But it should trouble us deeply that the solutions which might come to our minds are only this-worldly.

It should trouble us that the desire for God wasn’t strong enough to make us think of him when there’s trouble afoot.  If the desire for God is not also how we see our future, then we need to stop and do better.  Peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit; those who are keenly aware that their flesh is, like Christ's, the temple of the Holy Spirit, are the best peacemakers.

We must be careful: any solution to trouble which do not involve God will replicate the same flaws which created the problem in the first place.  We can only replicate ourselves, and we have great need of God.

So, this Advent we shall take with us not only the want of peace but the desire for its source, the God of peace.  We shall be on our guard when God is not part of our ordinary conversation and our thinking about the future.  When we do finally turn our minds towards the God of Jacob, our God in Christ, we shall recognise the same desire for peace in him but to a perfect degree.  And then we shall ask him for what he alone can give.

Advent has begun and a recasting of our desire is underway.  May we grow in that desire for him.  Growth in desire for God begins with repenting of our forgetfulness of God.  And then we shall pray that God turns our minds towards him throughout the day.  We should also ask him to give us what he thinks we best need, not simply what we say we do.  And then, we shall thank him for his abiding presence.  For he has come, and is coming to us, and for his peace-filling presence we wait in hope.

Fr Paul Rowse, OP Parish Priest