11 December 2025 - homily for 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, culture, and 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! We may feel distant or abandoned by God at times in life, but we are told that God is there with us on our journey no matter what. 

St Damsus I is the saint today, who served as Pope from 366 to 384. He had served under Pope Liberius, following him into exile, and was elected Pope after him. But, a minority group elected another pope at the same time, and there was great turmoil and division for many years after this. In addition, he constantly battling heresies and uneasy relations with Bishops in both the East and the West. However, one highlight of his pontificate was the encouragement of St Jerome in his biblical studies and in the development of the Vulgate Bible in Latin. He also encouraged Latin as the official language throughout the Church in its liturgies, as Greek was still used by some communities. As I hear of the saints in the Early Church, it was always a time of great political turmoil, internal Church struggles, and battling heresies. As we face our own challenges as a modern Church, may we be encouraged by the stories of the saints who faced the struggles and challenges of their day.