Advent Reflection
“Rejoice!” – a Conversation with Isaiah by Anne-Elisabeth Giuliani
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’” Matthew 3:3
“Rejoice!” – a Conversation with Isaiah
Isaiah, where is this joy coming from? This hope filling up the air? Your people have been in exile in Babylon for 50 years and many are frightened that the day of return to their land might never come. The wide desert of Arabia and its wild steppes separate them from a joyful return to Israel. How can you sing of a luxuriant transformation of the surrounding dread and aridity or of a triumphant return to Zion? Adding to this perplexity, you juxtapose the summon to be strong and confident with the “coming of God with vindication”: can this word reassure your people? Or are you defining this revenge of the Lord in ways that have never been explained before? God’s vindication is on the way, you say, not bringing anger and destruction to his doubtful and weary people but with tides of healing and consolation. The vindication of God is a tangible and transforming gift: it is the salvation of his People. And it is on its way!
Isaiah, how pointed and marvelous is your prophecy! Six centuries later, when Jesus in the Temple reveals that he is the Savior, God’s Promise in Person, he will indeed quote you and speak of good tidings having come unto the poor. At those words, God’s people began to understand the mystery of salvation taking place in their midst. Later again, in today’s Gospel, Jesus will assuage the doubts of imprisoned John the Baptist with the words of your prophecy: “the blind regain their sight, the lame walk.” In Jesus’ mouth, your words signal to John the Baptist that Jesus is indeed the Christ who has come and fulfilled God’s promise of salvation.
Why then, would Jesus say that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he? The Baptist was a tall and mighty prophet and Jesus steers us toward the hiddenness of his kingdom: only the little ones can receive his fear- and evil-shattering news! Might Mary of Nazareth be the first one of this long lineage of little ones in which we aspire to belong? The Magnificat, Mary’s hymn of praise, sings of God who has come with “vindication and divine recompense,” feeding the hungry and letting the rich go empty. Mary had long understood the prophecy of Isaiah. In the lowliness of her discerning heart, she is the first to recognize the Promise being made flesh in her, the salvation of God’s People manifest in an infant.
Mary, Our Lady and Mother, as we approach Christmas, unveil for us the mystery of the Christ-Child, dispose us to adore Him in the littleness of the, and like you, to receive his divine gift within our human realities. Grant us the privilege to become gifts of salvation to the poor and the lowly, in the joy of being His.
Written by Anne-Elisabeth Giuliani
Delegate for Consecrated Life
