Word to the Wise
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 - 2nd Week of Advent - Tues
[Isa 40:1-11 and Matt 18:12-14]Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated.....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; the rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. [Isaiah]
Those familiar with Handel's wonderful oratorio, THE MESSIAH, might recognize the words in the first scripture for today. They comprise the opening recitative and aria of that work: Comfort ye! Comfort ye my people, saith your God!" They are the opening words of the part of the Book of Isaiah that is traditionally called (appropriately) "the Book of Comfort." These words are addressed to a community in exile in Babylonia. They offer a vision of hope to a people who feel that they have suffered enough for the sins that brought them into exile at the hands of the Babylonians.
Advent invites us to consider the different ways of "exile" that we can experience. It is a tough season for many people. They experience exile from family, good health, shelter, employment - even exile from their own selves. All forms of alienation are a form of exile. The refugee camps around the world are graphic examples of the need for hope, whether they be in the Middle East, Ukraine or on our own southern border!!
What "comfort" can we offer in this season? There are many local efforts to provide some "Christmas cheer!" either on the parochial or civil levels. We can, at least, participate in those. There are international organizations such as Catholic Relief Services, that we can support. In this season we can begin a pattern of "comfort" that we could extend through the entire year and not just in this "season." In short, we can "put skin on" the words of Isaiah and give comfort to those who are in exile! AMEN