Don't Give Up

DON’T GIVE UP
Is. 11:1–10; Romans 15:4–9; Mt. 3:1–12

Isaiah gives us a breathtaking vision of the future. He sees a world transformed—so different from our own that it almost defies imagination. Traditional enemies in the animal kingdom live side by side in peace: the lion eats straw like the ox, the cow and the bear graze together, and even the most poisonous snakes lose their danger so that a little child can play safely near them. “No hurt, no harm on all my holy mountain.” It echoes last week’s reading, where Isaiah foretold an end to human conflict: “Nation shall not lift sword against nation.”

To many, this sounds like a lovely fantasy—beautiful, but impossible. The world as we know it is marked by competition and conflict, both among animals and among human beings. Power, territory, food, advantage: creatures fight for these things, and we have come to call it “natural.” But Isaiah’s vision challenges that assumption. What if the world we live in now is not truly “natural” at all?

Genesis tells us that God looked at everything He had made and “saw that it was good.” In that original harmony, all creatures—including the human family—coexisted in peace. The violent world we now inhabit is not God’s design, but the result of the Fall. Our rejection of God’s plan distorted creation and introduced division, rivalry, and death. The enmity between the human child and the serpent began only after sin entered the world—so Isaiah’s image of a child playing safely with a cobra points us back to God’s first intention, and forward to what Christ will one day restore.

Faced with the brokenness of the world, we may feel powerless. We cannot single-handedly eliminate war, cruelty, or injustice. The full transformation Isaiah describes will come only through Christ, the Saviour of the world. Yet we must not lose heart. St. Paul reminds us that the Scriptures were written to give us hope. God has always helped those who refused to despair, and He will help us too—if we do not give up.

Advent is precisely the season for renewing that hope. We cannot perfect the world, but we can prepare a place for Christ by small, faithful choices. An extra prayer, an extra Mass, a moment of quiet recollection—these strengthen our hearts. And St. Paul invites us to something even more challenging: to treat one another “in the friendly way Christ has treated us.” That means patience, gentleness, and refusing to retaliate—even when faced with the sarcastic colleague, the irritating neighbour, or the person who pushes ahead in the supermarket queue. Chesterton once remarked, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” Advent asks us to try again.

Lord Jesus, the fulfilment of Isaiah’s vision may still lie ahead of us, but we continue to pray each day: Thy Kingdom come. Strengthen our hope, renew our courage, and help us encourage one another—not to give up, but to keep preparing a straight path for Your coming.

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