12/11/2014 – Thursday of the 2nd week of Advent – Isaiah 41:13-20

      We have been hearing a lot from Isaiah during the daily masses of this Advent season.  In fact, all of the first readings from the daily masses these first two weeks of Advent have been from Isaiah.  It is important to note the context in which Isaiah has been preaching and prophesying in the midst of the exile of the people of Israel to Babylon.   They had seen their city and Temple destroyed.  They were forced into a foreign land away from their native language, their culture, and their religion.  Yet, in the midst of their misery and suffering, Isaiah tells them: things are not what they seem.  Isaiah tells them that God can turn the reality they experience in life upside down.  In previous readings we’ve heard from Isaiah these first two weeks in Advent.  We’ve been told that the lion and the lamb – mortal enemies – will lie down with each other in peace. We’ve been told that the deaf will hear, the blind will see, and the poor will rejoice.  Today, we hear that the desert will become a marshland and that the wasteland will become a great forest planted with trees such as cypress and pine.  In the midst of their sense of abandonment and suffering, God tells them: I will help you, fear not!

       A lot of visionaries and mystics speak to us during the Advent season.  Bernhard of Clairvaux was a French abbot and reformer of the Cistercian monastic order in the 12^th century.  He was a towering figure in the Church and in politics in his day, and his theological influence in Catholicism continues to this day.  We have heard a lot about Isaiah’s visions during Advent.  And a mystical vision that Bernard of Clairvaux had came to my mind as I contemplated Isaiah the past couple of weeks.  Bernard has often been depicted by medieval artists as being embraced by Christ as our Savior reaches down from the cross.  This artistic depiction is derived from a quote from St Bernard: “By taking on the form of the self-sacrificing Christ, we are transformed.”  We prepare for the birth of Christ into the world during this Advent season, but it is all a part of the paschal mystery: Christ’ incarnation in the world as he lived among us, Christ’s earthly ministry and journey to the cross, and Christ’s death and resurrection.  Through our prayers and reflections, through our studies and Advent devotions, may we draw ever closer to Christ this Advent season.