A day to exult and sing

For your meditation today I offer two passages from Isaiah which, I believe, go well together and enhance each other.

The first is from the liturgy of the 4^th Sunday of Advent and is designated as the Introit for the day. If is frequently left out, but its message is important for all of us on this day so close to the Christmas Feast because it is poetic expression of our yearning for the coming of Christ:

Drop down dew from above, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth be opened and bring forth a Savior (from Isaiah 45:8)

Notice that the gift from heaven comes to us from two different directions: from the heavens above but also from the earth below. Let the earth be opened and bring forth a Savior causes me to think of the Blessed Mother about to give birth to Jesus who will save us from our sins.

Here is the second passage, from Isaiah 49:13:

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

for the Lord has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his afflicted.

Heavens and the earth now exult, and the mountains break into song, for the prophecy of Isaiah 45:8 is being fulfilled. How do the heavens and the earth exult? And the mountains sing? Close your eyes and picture what your eyes cannot see; listen to the singing that your ears cannot hear.

What is the cause of the singing and the joy? The Lord has come to bring comfort to us his people. All those things you’ve been thinking about and praying for through our meditations this month, through the liturgy of the Church and through your personal and sometimes silent prayer. Comfort comes to all.

And you who are afflicted (which actually means all of us, for we all suffer from one affliction or another) are to receive the Lord’s give of compassion.

Before we close, let’s take a quick look at the word compassion: its Latin roots mean “suffer with.” Never forget that our God who is full of compassion is a God who looks upon our human state in all its glory and also affliction, and where we suffer, he too suffers with us.  It might be difficult to think of the Lord suffering during these days when we think of babe in the manger, yet, as one commentator has pointed out, the wood of the cradle will one day become the wood of the cross.

But for now, let us put that aside and rejoice, give thanks, give expression to our yearning, and, most importantly, remember that not just you but everyone around you is precious in God’s eyes, and honored, and loved. Show that to one another.

God bless you.