Today’s Advent readings give us a glimpse of a transformed world, a world in which all the pieces fit together to form a harmonious, undivided whole. All strife and danger will have ended. Listen:  “The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb. . . the cow and the bear shall be neighbors. . . [and] there shall be  no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain.”

How can this come about? It is the very opposite of what we experience now. It seems impossible to believe. Yet, “nothing is impossible with God.” We look to the day when the Holy Spirit will come upon our world as it came upon Mary at the Annunciation. Already God is drawing all things to himself in ways we do not, cannot understand. We do know that “for those who love God all things – all things – work together for good.” We have been promised a new heavens and a new earth. God is faithful. He has promised and he will do it.