Halfway through this season of preparation, we celebrate Gaudete Sunday, this Sunday of joy and gladness. With eager anticipation we prepare our hearts for Christ as we prepare our homes for Christmas. Recalling that Mary and Joseph could not find a proper place for Mary to give birth to our Savior, we commit to preparing a proper place to receive our Lord anew into our lives. In him, the blind see and the deaf hear, the poor are fed and the dead are raised. May we ready ourselves to see the wonders the Lord can do in our midst.
Introduction to the Liturgy of the Word
What can we see with eyes of faith? Isaiah saw a field of abundant flowers where others saw a parched desert. James saw an urgency to prepare for the coming of the Lord where others focused on its delay. John the Baptist could no longer see what he’d seen in the desert and needed Jesus to remind him of what his disciples were seeing all along: the poor fed, the dead raised, the deaf hearing, and yes, the blind seeing. With eyes of faith, we see past the bleak onset of winter. We see the coming of the Lord on the horizon.
Reflections
Isaiah saw an Israel that no one else could see. Scripture scholars tell us that today’s first reading was written when the Jewish people were permitted to return to Jerusalem after years in exile, but found that the city had been utterly destroyed. But Isaiah saw blooming flowers where his compatriots saw a barren desert. He saw God’s glory and splendor, not the desecration of the temple. “Be strong, fear not!” he urged his neighbors, for God would save them (Isaiah 35:4). There are times and will continue to be times when we will look at the world, or the country, or our community, and see much to be pessimistic or downright hopeless about. But with the eyes of a prophet, with the eyes of faith, we can envision “the splendor of our God” emerging from the doom and gloom (35:2).
But it is not easy. Witness John the Baptist. What happened to the unborn child who leaped in the womb in Mary’s presence when she herself was with child? What happened to his memory of the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove when he baptized Jesus? What happened to his certainty we saw last week when he announced that the kingdom was at hand? Perhaps the four walls of Herod’s prison acted like a barrier to his deeper vision. Or perhaps he questioned why a Messiah who healed the blind and deaf and even raised the dead failed to free the imprisoned. What happened to proclaiming liberty to captives? Had God abandoned him? Have we not wondered the same ourselves?
When James refers to “the coming of the Lord” in this passage (5:7), he is speaking of Jesus’ Second Coming, but it can be applied to the Lord’s presence at any time. If it is really “at hand” (5:8), how are we not seeing it? How are we not feeling it? “Be patient,” James counsels (5:7). In today’s world, where communication, information, and entertainment are immediately available any time, it takes patience and thoughtful consideration to recognize the Lord. In the busyness of these weeks before Christmas, let us take the time to ponder and discern the Lord’s presence in our lives.
Question of the Week
Have others recognized Christ’s presence in me? What can I do during Advent and Christmas to witness to Christ’s presence in the world?
-from Pastoral Patterns
readings of the mass
LISTEN HEREto the Audio Recordings of the Readings of Sunday, December 11, 2022
SELECT HEREfor the Readings of Sunday, December 11, 2022
Offerings
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