Sin causes us to lose the things we love. Sin wounds us, it separates us from goodness, harmony, beauty, truth and life itself—the wages of sin are death. Families become divided because of sin, sin turns man against his brother, nations are divided. Sin has ripple effects that can impact generations and it deprives us of peace. Minds and hearts are warped, perverted, and corrupted by sin. Sin—faithlessness—brings depression, confusion, and self-destruction.
And the prophet explains how Israel has brought misery upon herself, so she can acknowledge her mistakes and turn back to the covenant.
But then, in chapter 40, the book of Isaiah takes a turn. And Isaiah announces some very good news. Even though Israel has been unfaithful, God is going to do something great. So get ready, prepare ye the way of the Lord, the time of exile is coming to an end. God is near.
And in that last half of Isaiah, we are presented with a series of prophecies describing a mysterious “servant of the Lord”. God isn’t just going to do something great. He’s going to send someone great. An instrument of God who will fulfill God’s will to bring salvation to his people, who will say “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me…to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and release to prisoners.”
Advent of course prepares us to celebrate the birth of God’s servant, his anointed one, his Christ, on Christmas. God has entered into history and brought salvation. But he also wishes to enter into each of our lives particularly, with his healing salve. Advent calls us to open our lives to God to break into the poverty and brokenheartedness, and capitivity, and imprisonment into the messy details of our lives with healing, peace, and spiritual freedom.
Five years ago already, our previous bishop, Bishop Perez celebrated a Christmas Mass for the inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail. And he shared a little reflection on the Christmas story. He noted that the Christ—the anointed servant of the Father—the savior was not born into idyllic circumstances, but into cold, dirty cave—into a “real mess” the Bishop said. A world with slavery, and abuse, and tyranny, and abject poverty, heartache, abhorrent perversions—a real mess.
And Bishop Perez likened the situation of the Holy Family on Christmas to some of the prisoner’s situations, a “real mess”—where the consequences of sin were evident and felt. But the Christmas message proclaims that it is precisely into the real mess of our lives that the Christ Child desires to be born: into the messiness, into the challenges and hardships, into the illnesses and financial concerns, into the addictions and family divisions, and injustices beyond our control. And the Bishop prayed for those inmates, he said, “As you confront what you are confronting, may you come face-to-face with the Christ Child.”
Again, Advent is about opening your life, your mind and heart to encounter God more deeply and to allow God to “do his thing” in the messy details of your life. But that involves a choice. If you want to resist God, God isn’t going to force you to have a joyful Christmas. If you want to remain in sin and addiction and the misery that comes from sin, that’s up to you. But if you get serious about welcoming God, there can be joy, there can be healing to your brokenheartedness, and spiritual freedom.
This week the Church celebrated the feast of a saint who was imprisoned. On Thursday, we celebrated St. John of the Cross. John of the Cross was a Carmelite priest who was imprisoned, starved, and publicly flogged by his own religious community, but not for committing a crime. His own religious brothers imprisoned John for attempting to reform his community, as it had greatly deviated from its rules and statutes. The community had abandoned the austerity, poverty, and discipline called for by the Carmelite Rule. And when John called for reform, he was silenced and imprisoned—talk about a mess! Some people—even consecrated religious don’t like to be told that they are not being faithful to God!
And in prison St. John experienced the cross quite acutely: isolation, starvation, cruelty at the hands of his brothers. But, he did not blame God for his situation; he did not become bitter because of the injustice. His sufferings did not diminish his desire for holiness. Rather, his desire for union with God increased. He passed the time reflecting on the Scriptures which he had memorized. And he composed some of the most beautiful mystical poetry outside of scripture—which exists to this day.
In the darkness of the prison, John blossomed into a great mystical poet and theologian, and even enjoyed a depth of prayer that could be described as ecstatic. In the dark dank prison cell, he opened his heart to God, and met God in the absolute mess of his life. And because he allowed himself to experience God in prison, he was made free. St. John has been declared a doctor of the church because he has so much to teach us about seeking God prayerfully in the concrete messy details, in the crosses of our lives.
We, present here today, are not imprisoned, like the inmates of the County Prison or like St. John of the cross, but there’s likely a measure of messiness to each of our lives. Perhaps you feel imprisoned by circumstances beyond your control. And again, Advent calls us to identify them, and to seek to meet God in them.
This touches upon what St. Paul instructs us in our second reading today. In our second reading, St. Paul gives us some of the most difficult instructions in the Bible. He says, Rejoice in the Lord always, In all circumstances give thanks. Really Paul? Always? Even in prison? Unemployment? Marital difficulties? Even when I seem to be failing at all life’s demands? And Paul says, Always. For when we learn to encounter God always, we learn to rejoice always. And remember Paul wrote those words, just a few years before he himself would be imprisoned in Rome because of his preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
Joy comes from knowing the Lord God and experiencing his nearness in the messiness, even in the sufferings, especially in the sufferings of our lives. Having a real, living relationship with God enables even the Christian imprisoned to be freer and more joyful than any atheist surrounded by worldly treasures.
If you’ve been experiencing joylessness this Advent, be honest about the messiness of your life with God, and invite God more deeply into the messiness. The experience of His nearness will heal deep wounds when you let Him and rekindle joy you thought lost for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
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