December 15th, 2025
“Hope” by Sara Caporaletti
A Star Shall Come Out of Jacob
By Sara Caporaletti
When I read the first reading containing Balaam’s prophecy in Numbers 24, I’m struck by the way he describes the images forming before he can fully understand them. His words about the distant star, “I see him, but not now… a star shall come out of Jacob,” feel familiar to me as someone who works with textiles and sculpture. So much of my creative process begins this way: sensing something before it takes shape in my hands.
Working with fabric or building something three-dimensional has taught me to trust slow, unfolding light. I rarely know the final form at the beginning. I start with a texture, a color, a single stitch, one piece of material, and then I follow it. There is always a moment when the piece feels far from finished, much like a promise not yet fulfilled. Advent feels a lot like that moment.
The “star in the east” becomes, for me, a symbol of the small and surprising clarities that break through uncertainty. Sometimes it’s the way fabric falls unexpectedly into place. Sometimes it’s how a sculpture suddenly finds its balance. Sometimes it’s a deeper sense of God nudging me toward what the piece and my own deepest self are becoming.
During Advent, I’m learning to honor these moments. Just as God’s star guided those who watched for it, the small lights in my creative process guide me, reminding me that God is shaping something in me even when I can’t yet see the whole structure.
A single point of light, like a star, can orient us. It can pull us forward and reshape the darkness that surrounds us. In quiet moments of creating, I’m reminded to look for the small insights that point toward a fuller picture. And yet stars can only be seen when night falls, revealing that the vast darkness is not empty.
May we wait in this Advent season with expectant hope and trust for the light to be born within us again.
Sara Caporaletti is a mixed media visual artist based in Maryland. You can see her other artwork at saracaporaletti.com.