Understand the Reign

THE WORD IN ADVENT

First Tuesday in Advent - December 2, 2025

Isaiah 11: 1-10; Luke 10: 21-24

Continuing from the same theme as yesterday, the Word today invites us to go a little deeper than just recognising - to look deep to understand the Reign. The first step is to unravel the Reign that is present in our midst; the necessary next step is to understand the concrete implications of it, especially the implications of what my/our responsibility is. 

When the Word says, "shoot from the stock or the bark" there is an implied message to be gathered: in a grown tree, shoots do not come at the bark - that is a common knowledge.  But let us imagine the case. If there is a shoot from a bark, it means a surprise, an unexpected new beginning. Just visualise a shoot that comes from a cut, abandoned, dried block of a bark. That is a sign of hope, the hope of the pilgrims... that there is life, there is the Lord, even when we think everything is done. 

To behold that life, to experience that hope, to unravel the Reign, we need a special seeing, a deeper listening! Not merely the seeing and the hearing of the learned and the scholarly, but that of those who are gifted, those who are graced, those who are chosen. No one can know the Son, except the Father and those to whom the Father chooses to reveal. Seeing the Reign, sensing the Reign, unraveling the Reign is a gift... that many wish to receive but not all are given!

Hence, the question remains: to whom shall it be revealed; who gets to unravel it? The answer is simple too - those who are open to the grace, those who are simple and receptive in relation to the revealing Father... those who are ready to understand what the Father wishes to communicate. This is the need to see and hear deeper, to understand the Reign - because it is not so easy to understand: it is so full of contradictions, strange combinations, incredible situations...but full of possibilties and hope; yes, the hope of the pilgrims!