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December 11, 2024Today’s reading from the second part of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah highlights the paramount virtue during Advent – hope. Hope enables humans to tolerate desperate situations by providing a plausible remedy. In the reading Jewish exiles in Babylon are experiencing hardship. They were defeated with heavy losses during the siege of Jerusalem. Now, as strangers with a distinguished heritage, they face ridicule and contempt. God, speaking through the prophet, assures the people that they will not remain marginalized for long. He, forever young and strong, will see them through the trial to peace and prosperity again.
The well-known passage from the Gospel of Matthew likewise gives a message of hope. Jesus tells those who feel overburdened by the many laws of Judaism not to give up. Rather, they are to find hope in a relationship with him. He provides comfort and strength with his love for them. He is the long-expected Messiah who has come to save them from their sins.
Many find the Church today a legalistic overseer with countless rules. Because they have lost the sense that she is the Body of Christ, they leave her. Christ would have us tell them to wait and try developing a spiritual relationship with him. We, Christ’s body, are to share their joys and sorrows, work and recreation in his name.
