Year of Faith #2: Advent and the Prophet Isaiah

December 17, 2012

Year of Faith #2: Advent - "Waiting in Joyful Hope"

Greetings on the Monday of the Third Week of Advent!

The Year of Faith is our time to return humbly and simply back to the roots of our faith, to re-experience, and re-commit. Advent is the perfect season to begin this year, preparing our hearts and minds anew for the coming of the Christ child, the mystery of His birth, and the fulfillment of the prophecies.

We turn during this time of the liturgical year to those wonderful readings from Isaiah. The Prophet describes the coming Savior and His Kingdom, what it will feel like, look like, be like. The ancient Israelites, one can imagine, listened intently and hoped and prayed for His Coming, given how different their situation was from what the prophet described:

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“Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
The calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
The cow and the bear shall be neighbors,
together their young shall rest.” [Isaiah 11]

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Some of our students on retreat re-heard again those words from Isaiah. How wonderful it was -- the words of the prophet, proclaimed in the cold, in the darkness, at a night Mass, outdoors, our cathedral dome the very dome of heaven. For the gentlemen, the Mass was celebrated on a deck on the canyon edge over looking the Frio River, the black shadow of the river canyon behind Father John Mary, the clustered line of stars from the Milky Way trailing up above us.

One could easily take himself back, to the ancients, living in exile and in persecution, listening to those words of the prophet, the glorious description of the Coming Age of the Son of God, waiting in Joyful Hope for the root of Jesse's tree.

How fortunate we are – what joy we have, as we were reminded on Gaudete

Sunday – to have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him as we do. He came, walked with his disciples (people who were much like us), and now walks with us as the Risen Christ. In the words of St. Paul, “now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” [2 Corin 6:2] We do not have to wait as the ancient Israelites.

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As today’s Gospel reminds us of the lineage of Christ, we follow from that line, from the prophet, and Abraham, Jesse, David, Solomon, up to Jacob, Joseph and Christ. We can follow a similar lineage, from Christ to St. Peter, through the popes, all the way to Blessed John Paul II, and to the bishops who are confirming our children. They began our story; they held fast to our hope; and we continue that faith.

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Please count on my prayers for the completion of your Advent preparation over these next eight days. May we all be ready on Christmas Eve to receive the Light of Christ, and through our faith, shine that light into a world in great need of Him and His Mercy.

Nolite timere,
Andrew Iliff
Principal
JPIICHS