2nd Week of Advent 2024 - Wednesday - Strength and rest for the weary

 Yesterday, we began reading from chapter 40 of Isaiah and  we heard God’s promise of comfort and renewal to a people who had endured long seasons of exile and suffering. Today, the Word of God continues that message. 

The reading even began acknowledging our doubts.  “Why, O Jacob, do you say… ‘My way is hidden from the LORD’?” 

Sometimes life is so difficult we feel like we have been overlooked or forgotten by the One who created us. Yet, in the midst of doubt, God directs His people’s eyes upward: “Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things.” Before we allow fear or despair to have the final word, we must remember who God is: the Eternal Creator of the ends of the earth, who does not grow tired or weary. His strength is inexhaustible, and His knowledge is beyond our understanding.

Isaiah reminds the faint-hearted that if they hope in the LORD, they will “renew their strength” and “soar as with eagles’ wings.” What a powerful image! Eagles, known for soaring above storm clouds, teach us that placing our hope in God gives us the grace not merely to endure hardship but to rise above it. In a world that often leaves us depleted—emotionally, physically, and spiritually—God’s promise stands: if you trust in Him, you will find new vigor to run without growing weary, to walk without fainting.

Our Gospel continues this theme in perhaps the most comforting promises in all of the Gospels: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Here is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise. The same God who promised new strength to the weary now speaks to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, saying, “Come,” and we discover that the comfort Isaiah proclaimed is no longer just a future hope. In Jesus, comfort is a present reality. He invites anyone struggling under heavy burdens—worry, grief, guilt, loneliness—to bring those burdens to Him. When we accept His invitation, the endless striving that leaves us exhausted begins to give way to rest in His loving arms.

Additionally, Jesus encourages us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” The “yoke” here means choosing a life aligned with Jesus, guided by His teachings, His virtues, His way of love. In ancient farming, a yoke paired a stronger, more experienced animal with a weaker one. The stronger bore the weight and guided the weaker. In the same way, Jesus is that stronger partner who carries the weight we cannot carry alone. Because He is humble and gentle, drawing near to Him does not crush us; it makes our burdens lighter. Under Christ’s guidance, what seemed impossible to bear can become manageable because we are no longer carrying it by ourselves.

During this Advent season of waiting and longing, we consider the ways that we long for the Lord’s strength to become manifest in our lives. And the scriptures resound clearly, in that waiting, seek the Lord all the more, to uplift, renew, and strengthen. 

During Advent, we are not waiting for an idea or a philosophy. We are awaiting a person—Emmanuel, “God with us.” In our weariness, may we come to discover more deeply his comfort, strength, forgiveness, and rest for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Confident in God’s never-failing presence and strength, we bring before Him our prayers for the Church, for the world, and for all in need.

That, during this season of Advent, the Church may echoes God’s invitation to all people to “lift up their eyes” to God, especially in times of difficulty and doubt.

For world leaders and those in positions of authority: That they may govern with wisdom, compassion, and a spirit of service, working tirelessly to relieve the burdens of the poor, the oppressed, and the weary. 

For those who labor under heavy burdens—illness, grief, worry, or guilt:

That they may discover in Jesus their strong partner who carries the weight they cannot bear alone, granting them strength and peace.

For those who have died: That they may find eternal rest in God’s loving embrace, especially N.

Heavenly Father, You are the Eternal God who neither grows weary nor fails in love. Hear the prayers we bring to You today. Grant us the grace to trust in Your unfailing care, that we may find rest, strength, and hope in You. Through Christ, our Lord. 

2nd Week of Advent 2024 - Tuesday - Comfort my people

 

“Comfort, give comfort to my people.” These words from Isaiah 40 come at a pivotal moment in the story of Israel—indeed, in the story of all who seek hope amid hardship. Here, God’s voice breaks the silence after long seasons of despair, exile, and weary struggle. 

When Isaiah spoke these words, the people of God were in the shadow of national trauma. They had suffered exile, displacement, and the humbling realization that their collective sins—turning away from God’s commands and worshiping idols—had resulted in a grave departure from their calling to be a people of faith.

We cannot begin to imagine Israel’s relief, when they hear the prophets message. God has not abandoned or forsaken you, rather, your iniquity will be pardoned. The time of estrangement and suffering is passing; forgiveness and peace is at hand.

For us who believe in the God of Israel, who place our faith in the promises carried forward by the prophets and fulfilled in Jesus Christ, this text transcends its ancient setting. 

This same God knows the contours of each human heart, the weight of burden each of us carries, the guilt we bear for our sins, our unique challenges. And the message to all of us is the same as it was to Israel. Comfort, peace, and relief are promised to those who turn their hearts to Jesus Christ--to a living relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is the message we are to shout from the mountains Go up onto a high mountain, and cry out at the top of your voice. 

This is a comfort meant not only for the collective but also for the individual seeking relief from suffering. God will lower the mountains of your despair, raise up the valleys of your desolation, and smooth out the jagged edges of your life’s journey. As you stand in the uncertainty of the desert, He prepares a way—a road to healing, restoration, and peace.

As our Lord says in the Gospel today, the Heavenly Father wills that not a single one of his children be lost, which is why we are to carry this Advent message of comfort to all people. 

“Comfort, give comfort to my people,” God says. May these words find a home in our hearts today, guiding each of us—to make room in our lives for the Comforter of God, and to announce that comfort to those we meet, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Let us place our needs and the needs of the whole world before our merciful and comforting God.

That all believers may proclaim God’s promise of comfort, forgiveness, and peace with courage and clarity, helping all people find hope in Jesus Christ.

For leaders of nations: That they may guide their peoples toward justice and reconciliation, working tirelessly to heal divisions, relieve suffering, and rebuild trust.

That strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we may courageously climb the “high mountains” of our daily lives, proclaiming the Good News of comfort and salvation to those we encounter.

For those burdened by despair, grief, illness or guilt: that they may be led on the path of the healing and peace of Jesus Christ. 

That those who have gone before us in faith may rest forever in the comforting embrace of our Heavenly Father’s eternal life and peace, especially N.

Heavenly Father, you know the burdens we carry and the longing we have for Your comfort. Hear these prayers we bring before You. Renew, restore, and guide us along Your path of peace. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

2nd Week of Advent 2022 - Tuesday (Dec 6) - St. Nicholas: Consoler and Defender of Truth

 

The book of the Prophet Isaiah is divided into two parts. In the first 39 chapters of the book, Isaiah offers a series of warnings to Israel. Those chapters are not devoid of many powerful promises of the age of the Messiah to come, but the thrust of those 39 chapters contain a message of warning: the devastation which will ensue without repentance on a national scale. So those first 39 chapters are often called “The Book of Woes” because Isaiah describes the woes that will befall Jerusalem, and the Temple, if they fail to repent.

Today’s reading begins the second part of Isaiah. Fast forward a generation. Did Jerusalem repent? Sadly no. And the destruction came, just as Isaiah foretold. Jerusalem was sacked, the temple was destroyed, the Babylonians deported thousands and thousands of Jews into exile, families were ripped apart, the nation was ravaged.  

But, amidst the destruction and suffering and sadness and captivity, Isaiah delivers a message of heavenly consolation: that God will come to the rescue of his people, as we heard today, sins will be forgiven, land will be restored, and God’s glory will be revealed through his people. So this last half of the book of Isaiah is often called the Book of Consolation because it speaks of comfort that will come to Israel through God’s intervention.

These passages have been interpreted by the Church fathers as an anticipation of the consolation that Christ will bring. The fifth century theologian Theodoret of Cyrus wrote, “The true consolation, balm and release from all human ills is the Incarnation of Christ.” God did come to the rescue of his people, and not simply the nation of Israel, but of all humanity; God has forgiven sins, and again, not just of Israel, but all of us, through Christ; 

And that prophecy of God’s glory being made known through his people, is especially fulfilled in his saints. The saints who have repented, how have allowed the life of God and goodness of Christ to dwell in them and transform them from the inside-out are great beacons of glory.

Today the Church celebrates one of the great saints of the early 4th century: the bishop St. Nicholas of Myra. There are tales of this Bishop St. Nicholas’ heroic charity toward the poor, and miracles, even raising the dead. He was an instrument of God’s comfort and consolation. 

Bishop St. Nicholas was also an instrument of justice--a defender of the Christian faith. When the ugly error of Arianism began to spread throughout the Church, Nicholas fulfilled the apostolic duty of opposing that error. For theological error & heresy are great injustices against Truth, wounding the unity of the Church which is to glorify God. 

What a wonderful Saint for us to honor during Advent who inspires us to turn away from worldly error and selfishness—to turn toward charity, truth, generosity that we, and the entire Church may live always for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That Christ may fill the Pope, our Bishop, and all the clergy with spiritual gifts and graces and for an increase in charity among all the people of God, that cleansed of every vain and selfish desire we may be instruments of the love of God. 

That Christ may guide the minds of those who govern us to promote the common good according to His Holy Will.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Advent 2022 - Friday - Afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted

 I got a call from a local newspaper once. A brother priest, who is also a dear friend, had been named pastor of one of our diocesan parishes. The local neighborhood newspaper was doing a story on the new pastor, and so they called up some of the priests who knew him. I was asked some basic questions: how I knew him and so on, and then was asked why I thought Father would be a good pastor. And I said Father is a lot like the prophet Isaiah, and even Jesus himself, he believes in comforting the afflicted, and afflicting the comfortable.

Isaiah is read throughout Advent, and this is an important principle to keep in mind. Isaiah afflicts the comfortable—a lot. He seeks to awaken Israel out of her complacency, her faithlessness, her sin, her alliance with pagan nations and worshipping of their pagan gods and following their perverse and pagan ways. The first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah are called the Book of Woes, in which Isaiah warns Israel, challenges Israel, about their falling away from God’s covenant. In the book of Woes, Isaiah foretells the devastation that will befall Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple, if God’s people fail to repent repent. He afflicts the comfortable.

The last half of the book of Isaiah is called the Book of Consolation. In those last 25 chapters, Isaiah comforts the afflicted. He offers a message of consolation to those Jews who had been taken off into Babylonian Captivity. Yes, there was a nation-wide failure to repent, and destruction had come. But even then, Isaiah consoles, communicating that God had not turned his back on his people, even though they had turned their backs on Him.

In today’s passage, Isaiah has just delivered a word of warning to those he describes as spiritually drunk. Through unfaithfulness, God’s people had become so stupefied to God’s word, they were blind and deaf to God. 

But immediately after his word of affliction to the comfortable, Isaiah offers a word of hope, speaking of the day of the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah says On that day the deaf shall hear; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah offers his prophetic message of comfort and affliction to a nation, but we can also consider his message to us. Every individual needs to be stirred up a bit, each of us has become complacent, a bit. And we also find ourselves afflicted with suffering that we did cause. And in our affliction, God is present to us, offering us hope and strength and the promise that those who follow the Messiah, who allow Jesus the Savior to heal their blindness, as he does in the Gospel today, will be ultimately delivered from earthly suffering His new heaven and new earth. 

In our Advent pilgrimage, may we take the message of the prophets to heart, to till the soil of our hardened hearts and the salve of God’s healing and comfort to our wounded hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

 

As we await with longing the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, we raise up our prayers of petitions.

That Christ may visit his holy Church and always find her repentant of sin and watchful in prayer.

That Christ may fill the Pope, our Bishop, and all the clergy with spiritual gifts and graces.

That Christ may guide the minds of those who govern us to promote the common good according to His Holy Will.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

2nd Week of Advent 2019 - Tuesday - True Consolation

The book of the Prophet Isaiah is divided into two parts. In the first 39 chapters of the book, Isaiah offers a series of warnings to Israel. Those early chapters are not devoid of many powerful promises of the age of the Messiah to come, but Isaiah predominate message is a warning to Israel--what will happen between now and then if they continue to fail to keep God’s covenant. So those first 39 chapters are often called “The Book of Woes” because Isaiah describes the woes that will befall Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple, if they fail to repent.

Today’s reading, begins the second part of Isaiah. Fast forward a generation. There was a failure to repent, destruction did come to Jerusalem, just as Isaiah had foretold. The temple was destroyed, the Babylonians carried many off into exile.

Amidst the destruction and suffering and sadness and captivity, Isaiah offers a word of hope. God will come to the rescue of his people, as we heard today, sins will be forgiven, land will be restored, and God’s glory will be revealed through his people. So this last half of the book of Isaiah is often called the Book of Consolation because it speaks of comfort that will come to Israel through God’s intervention.

These passages have been interpreted by the Church fathers as an anticipation of the consolation that Christ will bring. The fifth century theologian Theodoret of Cyrus wrote, “The true consolation, balm and release from all human ills is the Incarnation of Christ.”

For in Christ the Lord God comes with power to shepherd his flock, through him guilt is expiated and sin is forgiven.

We cannot fathom what life would be like if Christ had not been born 2000 years ago. For we live with a constant consolation that God has forgiven our sins and that the glorious kingdom of God has begun to break into history. God’s glory can be seen already, though dimly, through his Church, in his saints. Because of the incarnation, we are able to say with St. Paul, death where is thy sting.

We repent of our sins in this life, and allow God to straighten the crooked paths in our lives, that God’s glory may be manifest in us ever more, that we may effective in preaching Christ to those who currently live hopeless lives, ignorant of the love God has for them.

May the good news of Christ’s advent bring about repentance in all hearts and hope to the hopeless for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the Holy Father, all bishops and priests, religious and laity may shine with the Light of Christ’s love for the lost and despairing.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated from God through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

That our young people will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.