We find ourselves two weeks into Advent, a season the Church calls holy preparation. But for many of us, preparation is simply the relentless, daily state of being a hard-working American. Our life is a constant tension: preparing for the next bill, preparing for a medical expense that could shatter the budget, and preparing our children for a world that feels more uncertain every day. This stress, this endless worry, this anxiety, this is the real-life wilderness in which we struggle to find God.

As Dominicans, we are called to bring the penetrating light of Truth (Veritas) into this darkness. Our task today is to see how the Scripture speaks directly to our reality, offering us a foundation that cannot be shaken by the economy or by fear.

The prophet Isaiah speaks to a people whose security has been utterly cut down, reduced to nothing more than a lifeless stump of Jesse. They had no reliable foundation left. Does that not perfectly capture our fear when we see our wages stagnate while every cost of living—housing, groceries, childcare—climbs higher and higher? Our human foundation, that comfortable feeling of being “securely middle-class,” often feels just as dead as that stump.

But Isaiah gives us the ultimate object of our contemplation: true security lies not in the next budget plan or a stable interest rate, but in the shoot that springs from that stump. This Messiah is endowed with the Spirit of Counsel and Might—the perfect Wisdom of God. This calls us to re-evaluate what we are building our lives on. When financial anxieties create friction at home, or when the pressure of work threatens to steal our family time, we must contemplate this liberating Truth: Our ultimate well-being is not secured by a perfect 401k, but by a perfect God who promises a reign of ultimate peace and justice. Our hope is in the Christ who stands above the wilderness we currently inhabit.

And how do we enter into this reign? By heeding the uncompromising Voice in the Wilderness—John the Baptist, whose message is the exact antidote to our ceaseless anxiety: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

For the hard-working person, repentance is not just about avoiding some far-off, “big” sin. It is about clearing out the spiritual and emotional debt that burdens our soul as much as any credit card. John demands “fruit worthy of repentance.” What is this fruit for us? It is making a profound turn-around from the consumerist lie that tells us we need more—a bigger, newer, better version of everything—and that our worth is measured by our income. This lie is what drains our peace and drives our exhaustion. The fruit of repentance is stopping the endless, anxious striving and instead, giving our dedicated time and full attention to our family, our children—the true assets God has given us—instead of giving our exhaustion and worry to them after a long day. This is the real, gritty work of making straight the path: clearing the internal clutter that prevents Christ from reigning at the very center of our lives.

Yet, this transformation is not done in isolation. St. Paul reminds us in Romans that our strength and endurance is found in the encouragement of the Scriptures and in our community. The anxiety of our middle-class life is often suffered in secret. We are conditioned to hide our struggles and maintain the appearance of success. But the Dominican call to live the Truth in community means we cannot afford isolation.

Paul prays that we may “accord in welcoming one another, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God.” Our unity must be practical. We welcome one another by sharing the truth of our struggle, by refusing to judge the neighbor whose finances are strained, and by recognizing that every person in this parish is carrying a weight. Our community, therefore, must be a place of refuge, where the burden is eased by spiritual solidarity, and where we use the Truth of Christ’s welcome to break down the walls of status and striving that silently divide us.

My brothers and sisters, we are called to be the voice and the hands of Christ in this demanding age. Let the Root of Jesse be your foundation, offering the only security that will never be devalued by inflation. Let the Voice of John drive you to repentance that brings rest to your soul, not just rules to your conscience. And let the call of Paul inspire a unity in this parish that reminds the anxious world of what it means to be truly rich—rich in hope, rich in truth, and rich in one another.

Amen.