Word to the Wise
Sunday, December 7, 2008 - Second Sunday of Advent
[Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8]A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low.......
Every time I read the beginnings of the Book of Comfort from Isaiah, I want to find my recording of Handel's MESSIAH to listen to! Isaiah IS proclaiming great comfort to the Chosen People returning from exile in Babylon. He is interpreting the return as a kind of "new exodus" and offering what amounts to total amnesty from whatever sins the Chosen People might have committed that caused the exile in the first place! All is forgiven! Come home! John the Baptist appears at the beginning of the Gospel According to Mark and he is seen by the gospel author in much the same light. However, he is a bit more "discomforting" insofar as he points out that the way home is through repentance. Nevertheless he too is offering comfort - but comfort of a different kind. He is pointing the way to Christ and inviting everyone to follow. One of the standard questions of this season that I am asked is: What are you doing for Christmas? Do you have a place to celebrate? Who are you spending Christmas with? ....and various versions of that! Even in our individualistic culture, the thought that someone might have to spend Christmas alone is very hard to bear! I can't help but think that the Lord would share that thought and invites us to share the season with Him and with others! It might require us to do a bit of "path straightening" (perhaps the Sacrament of Reconciliation?) and soul searching, but the important thing is the invitation! As the title of the old movie puts it, "Come to the stable!" It is a comforting invitation! Accept it! AMEN
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