Santa Clara University

Christmas Letter 1998

Dear members of the University Community,

Last night, I celebrated the liturgy in the Mission Church. The first reading was from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah where the ancient prophet looks to a future when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God through the coming of the promised Messiah:

On that day, the spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah continues with a utopian vision of the world: wolves are guests of lambs, lions eat hay with calves, and children play in the adder's den without being harmed. It's a world where the poor and humble are equal to the powerful, and where the heartless will be no more.

This is like no world that we have experienced: more often, our wisdom and understanding, our knowledge and fear lead us to judge only by what our eyes see or what our ears hear, as Isaiah puts it. Our preferred agendas often narrow our vision to what we want for our ourselves and for our world and fail to consider what God wants. Behind the poetic vision of Isaiah is the hope - even promise -- for a better world. It is a vision that women and men of all religions celebrate sometime during the year -- and that Christians renew at Christmas.

The amazing vision of Isaiah, then, is about the world we can create: the homeless and hungry will be provided for, the poor will not be pushed aside but made equal to the powerful, all children will live in homes with none on the streets of our major cities. Isaiah is imagining a time when government officials will adopt higher moral and ethical principles; when partisan bickering will give way to working together to do what is right and good for all citizens; when the fragile peace forged among Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland and among Muslims and Jews in the Middle East will be fully realized, when Christians and Muslims in Serbia will turn their weapons into instruments of peace; and when Native Americans, Asians, African Americans, Latinos and those of European descent will live in harmony in the U.S. and on this campus. We must thank God for people like Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Rigoberta Menchu and John Hume -- our commencement speaker in 1997 -- who remind us that the vision of Isaiah is possible.

We have seen that vision awaken in our Santa Clara community: when you generously respond with funds for the people in Central America, when we join with the Sacred Heart Parish community to celebrate The Virgin of Guadalupe in the Mission Church, when students, faculty and staff reach out to others by repairing homes for the poor and helping feed the hungry, and when we live as a community respectful of differences and enlivened by open dialogue, caring and just towards others, and committed to broad participation in achieving the common good - on campus and in the broader community.

Let us imagine what this world would be like if each one of us had the courage to hope for the world of Isaiah. I pray you and your families will have a holy, grace- and peace-filled holiday season.

Paul Locatelli, S.J.