A Vision of Shalom

The Roman Catholic Lectionary uses texts today which focus on the hope for peace which will be a theme for Advent. The passage from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is used in the Christian Prayer known as the Liturgy of the Hours. The mountain of the Lord is where the authority of God will end all dispute between peoples who will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Friar Jude Winkler discusses the hymn which Isaiah and Micah share about the profound shalom which brings peace to all nature. The image from the Gospel of Matthew of Jesus and the Roman Centurion together as an agent of the pagan occupying authority asks a favour of the Jewish rabbi and is praised for faith which will put him in the company of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is truly a source of hope that we have the ability to see that God is present and works in those we place on the outside. Pope Francis has returned to Rome from a visit to Istanbul where he gave witness to the deep desire for profound peace by pausing to face Mecca while in the Blue Mosque and by bowing to seek the prayers and blessing of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Spirit. The shalom of Isaiah comes when authority bows to service and the Will of God invites us to reconcile and begin to make pruning hooks from our spears.