Scripture readings on the third Sunday of Advent (14 December 2025) are all about hope. This particular Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday in the church, where Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice”. Many philosophers of old noted that there are natural virtues: justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. We heard Marcus Aurelius speak of these in both his actual writings as well as Richard Harris who played this role in the movie Gladiator. These are the four cardinal virtues which come through reason and habituation. They are called “cardinal” derived from the Latin cardo, which means “hinge” and these four virtues are pivotal for making good moral and ethical decisions in life. Any reasonable person can acquire and practice them, irrespective of belonging to any faith, sect, or group, as these four virtues are the hinges of making right and just decisions. The Church has always embraced the cardinal virtues. It is also important to note that these four virtues are different from the supernatural or theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. Those come through the grace of God. The third Sunday in Advent is all about the supernatural virtue of hope.
Hope is the theological virtue by which our lives are ordered, or should be, toward Heaven and the things of Heaven for our ultimate good. It is that virtue which pushes us beyond this world, its struggles, conflicts, and challenges, and directs the gaze of our souls to a transcendent fulfillment. This hope does not reject the good things of this world, but, it knows that the ultimate good, or the final good, lies in the Heavenly realm beyond our Earthly one.
It is very important to note that hope is not the same as optimism. Optimism is just an upbeat assessment of the situation(s) here on Earth. The grim truth of the matter is this: pessimism is the correct attitude while here. Why? Because in the long run, every one of us is dead. In the long run, every one of our projects and plans will come to dust. In the long run, nothing in this world ultimately satisfies us. This assessment isn’t being negative, but rather, pragmatic, as it is true. As the character of Proximo said in Gladiator, “We mortals are but shadows and dust. Shadows and dust, Maximus.” There is wisdom in that statement, as it happens to be factual. The famous German philosopher Schopenhauer, an atheist, gave this image for life. “There’s a man on a raft that’s going down a very swift rapids. He’s got an oar in his hands and he tries desperately to stave off the rocks and to keep this raft afloat. Down and down it goes into ever more dangerous situations, but he desperately tries to stay on top of it. And then, finally, he goes over the waterfall to his death.” There we are in this kind of flimsy raft. We’re staving off our various fears and failures and difficulties. But, at the end of the day, every one of us will go over the waterfall.
Conversely, Bob Dylan in his song ‘Series of Dreams’ sings “there’s no exit in any direction, except the one you can’t see with your eyes. The cards are no good that you’re holding, unless they’re from another world.” This is the voice of one who is not optimistic, but, hopeful. What is the exit? What is the way out? What is the avenue of hope? It is something supernatural-a transcendent good that goes beyond all the limits and frustrations of this world.
Today’s first reading, Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10, is beautiful and poetic. “Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy.” We know that God returned His people from the slavery of Babylon back to Zion, but their joy was hardly everlasting. Soon enough, they were unfaithful again to God, which is how we know Isaiah’s vision went beyond the return of the exiles. The blooming of the desert of which he speaks is not a blooming within the context of this fallen world. It’s a realization that will occur through the power of God in a transfigured world to come. The Zion of which he speaks is the Zion on high, the heavenly Jerusalem where through the power of God’s grace we will find definitive ransom and everlasting joy. These are readings about hope, not about optimism. They are filled with the theological virtue of hope.
Some would say that this language sounds like dualism, where the only thing that matters is the next life, and so we should just abandon this world and its concerns. Nothing could be further from the truth. By far, the most dangerous people in the world are optimists. That is those who believe that the world can all be made well here below using only human solutions. Those who believe that life in this world could become like paradise if we just had enough economic, political, or social reform, with enough scientific advancement, with enough psychological development. Want to know the names of some famous optimists? Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Peron, Pol Pot, Sadam-were all optimists in this sense. That is to say, they were men without hope. If you think all can be well in this world, if you think yes the desert can bloom in this world, yes we can be definitively ransomed in this world, then you will go to any extreme to make it happen. Now, there’s the story of the twentieth century. Stalin popularized the phrase “you have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.” (This phrase was originally said by the rebel François de Charette during the French Revolution in 1789.) Well, this phrase meant to Stalin the death of twenty plus (20,000,000+) million people-not a very small number. Sure, if you believe you can realize human flourishing in this world, you will pay any price, tell any lie, or whatever, to achieve it.
Who were those who, ironically, did achieve the greatest social reform in the twentieth century? Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Saint Pope John Paul II. Were they optimists? Absolutely not. They were people of hope who believed, who looked to the transcendent fulfillment. They were the ones who affected the most powerful social change here below on Earth.
I close with a dose of hope from the second scripture reading. The epistle of St. James 5:7-10 reads: “Be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer awaits the precious yield of the soil. He looks forward to it patiently, while the soil receives the winter and spring rains.” Yes! The seeds are planted here, but the harvest is in the future. The harvest is something for which we hope in the world to come. And that is a great comfort and hope. Gaudete!
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