Second Monday of Advent

From the Word of the Day

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared.  Then will the lame leap like a stage, then the tongue of the mute will sing.  Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.

                                                                          Isaiah 35: 5-8

How should we live this Word 

The Prophet Isaiah opens visions of beauty, well being, and peace to us.  All that was a cry of suffering, of impotence, of evil is transformed into a song of joy.  The waters that flow in the desert are the image of a new reality that is finally satisfying and joyful.  The time of huge fatigue and tiredness is ended and now there is finally true life, life in its fullness.  Clearly, Isaiah alluded to the messianic times when the long wait would be over and, like the sun rising in the east, the Savior would come, God become human in Jesus.

But a question arises in our minds.  Right now, in the existential fatigue of the difficult times in which crises provoke and put us to the test, what meaning do these beautiful words have?  They are like the golden aurora that rises over the mountains, above and beyond the black clouds.  During Advent, Isaiah’s words commit us to interiorize the meaning of Christmas.  For us, they allude to a true good that is to come. 

Christians are capable of rejoicing and of healthy optimism because they live the dimension of theological hope.  Not all is negative, suffering, or evil here and now.  Even in the darkest reality, the infinite wisdom of God has created us for love and is at work.  Abbot Egidio Gavazzi never tired of repeating, “Providence is precisely this, the wisdom of God-Love working through history whether we realize it or not.”                                                             

Today as I pause for silent contemplation, I will reflect on these words and I will pray: 

Lord, grant that I may be a person of hope.  I am certain that Isaiah’s words will come to pass for me both in this life and in the life that lasts forever. 

The voice of David Maria Turoldo, contemporary witness

O Lord, grant that Your Word that was in the beginning, the root of all intelligence, the same Word that became flesh may be our only Law along the journey.  Open us to Your mysterious splendor as light of all being.  Let us be attentive to Your continual action in the events of our history and in every person that thirsts for truth, for freedom, for justice.