Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins. (Is 40:1-2)
2020 has been a year unlike any other as we have faced together a worldwide pandemic that has changed our lives in ways we would never have imagined. Along with fear and uncertainty about the future came reports of police brutality, peaceful protests, and civil unrest-looting and violence-followed by a contentious election with accusations of fraud only adding to the sense of societal instability. If ever Isaiah’s words of consolation were needed, they are today.
These beautiful words of the prophet precede the prediction of the Voice in the Wilderness, the great John the Baptist, so dear to the Dominican Order, whom we meet for the first time this Advent in today’s Gospel. John’s way of preparing for the Messiah was to get the people to see that they were in need of a savior, a savior not only from political oppression but from their sins. In the Gospels, it is not clear if even John completely grasped what Christ’s mission entailed and what sort of a Messiah he was. However, those who listened to John and repented were prepared to receive Jesus—both in his person and his teaching.
Being able to face the truth about ourselves and acknowledge our faults individually and in our families, communities, and wider society is a fundamental step in the spiritual life. While the Holy Spirit can convict us of our sins in the depths of our hearts directly, most often he convict’s through another’s word, through an “outsider” like John, i.e. through other people — our spouse, someone in our family, our community, or other nations. As we strive to prepare the way of the Lord, to fill in every valley and level every mountain, let us listen attentively to what others tell us about our actions in what they say or do not say and in how they respond to us. For it is in our life in common that we are convicted of sin, receive mercy, and seek reconciliation.