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December 6, 2022How many of us would say we would do anything for God if asked? “’Comfort, give comfort to my people,’ says your God” the prophet Isaiah declares in today’s first reading. Give comfort to MY people our God says to us. Who are God’s people? They are people we are not always inclined to include. They are certainly the Jews for they were the first chosen. They are our Muslim sisters and brothers for they, too, are children of Abraham. They are Christians of all persuasions. They are Hindus, Buddhists, and believers in all traditions. They are also non-believers. They are those who are poor, ostracized, demeaned, and excluded. They are those who do not look like us, live like us, love like us, believe like us. They are our family members, friends, and neighbors. They are us. God’s people are all people – for all are made in the image and likeness of God.
As faith-filled people, we want to do whatever it is that God asks of us. Comfort, give comfort to MY people, says our God. Jesus showed us the way of such comfort – with a touch, a word, a look; with love, inclusion, and compassion. St. Nicholas, whose feast we celebrate today, understood the virtue of comfort. The legend of his anonymously providing three bags of gold coins to a peasant father for his daughters’ doweries speaks of Nicholas’ desire to offer care born of compassion – comfort for God’s people.
The invitation of this Advent season is to wait and watch for, listen, and respond to the ample opportunities we are given to offer comfort to God’s people that are presented to us on a daily basis. It is what God asks of us.
