Word to the Wise
Saturday, December 5, 2020 - 1st Week of Advent - Sat
[Isa 30:19-21, 23-26 and Matt 9:35-10:1, 5a, 6-8]The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst. No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, while from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears: "This is the way; walk in it," when you would turn to the right or to the left.
Throughout Advent, the majestic words of the prophet Isaiah are featured in the first scripture at Mass. Liturgically, we await the revelation of our Teacher! We set up a nativity scene in our home to remind us of that revelation. The Gospel According to Matthew today speaks of Jesus going "around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom."
I have always loved the lines in today's passage from Isaiah, quoted above, about a voice sounding in my ears, "This is the way, walk in it." That voice is externally audible when we hear it from Pope Francis and the other great teachers in our lives, but it is visually available to us in the good example of faithful Christians and on the pages of the scriptures. It is not always a voice we "want" to hear when it challenges us to avoid those turns "to the right or to the left." Elsewhere in the Gospel According to Matthew [7:13-14], Jesus warns us that the path to life is narrow and the path to destruction is wide.
In my pastoral experience, especially with university students, I have heard the words, "I know what I should do, but I am afraid of making a mistake!": or "Why does this or that teaching of the church seem so strict?" Prophetic teaching will always seem strict because it calls us back from those attractive "right or left" turns that lead to destruction. In Advent we have the opportunity to consider who have been the great teachers in faith in our lives . How did they reveal the Teacher to us? Are they still the "voice from behind" saying "This is the way, walk in it!" AMEN