To listen to this homily, click here.
If you’ve ever listened to Handel’s musical masterpiece, the Messiah, you can’t help but be uplifted by the tenor expressing in song the Lord’s promise given to Isaiah in our first reading: “Comfort, give Comfort to my people”. This message, this assurance of God’s help and healing never gets old or becomes irrelevant. But not everyone likes being comforted. Have you ever seen a parent try to hug their tough teen when they are upset? Or an independent child who wants to do something all by themselves? Some people resist all affection because they perceive it as an attack on their independence and strength! Comfort is only welcome to those who know they are hurting and in need of help. God’s people weren’t always disposed to receive God’s mercy and healing because they thought they were just fine on their own. People who think they can save themselves aren’t quick to cry out for a savior.
Before Isaiah was inspired by God to write those words of comfort, he first proclaimed a message of judgement. This sounds harsh to our ears but it was actually God’s effort, over and over again, to try and warn his people away from the self-destruction they kept choosing. Over generations, the Lord warned his People that they would suffer tremendously for their sinful decisions. This suffering was not what God wanted but it was the natural consequence of turning away from his will and wisdom. In their worst nightmares, the Chosen People never thought their lives could get so bad. First, the Northern Kingdom, Israel, was defeated and taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Then the Babylonians conquered the Southern Kingdom, Judah. The people were led off into slavery, bound together with hooks in their noses like cattle. The Temple and the Holy City were destroyed. They had wanted to be like the pagans with their gold, powerful armies, and worldly kings. Now they were forced to live in a pagan land and serve pagan masters.
But in their poverty something incredible happened; they rediscovered their faith. They turned from their pagan ways. They embraced their identity as devout followers of the one true God. They had no power except their faith in the All Powerful One. But in their weakness and reliance on God for everything, they realized they had more power than they could ever need. God witnessed their conversion. He heard their prayers. He sent His prophet to preach consolation for Israel, a time of relief for his people.
Over and over in the history of God’s people and in the life of our Church, the events that led to the Babylonian captivity are repeated. We think we have it all, that somehow our plan and our ways are better than God’s ways. We allow evil to creep into our lives. We begin to serve other things and people rather than the Lord. Through this wayward allegiance, we allow something to destroy us. In fact, destroy ourselves by relying on our own abilities instead of the Power of God. But then we find ourselves completely alone. Through the Grace of God, through the prayers of others, we come to the Wisdom that we are only alone when we forget about Him who said He would always be with us. We realize no matter how bad life might have become, no matter how far we or someone else may have fallen, there is no depth God will not descend in order to pick us up and cover us in Divine comfort.
God loves us so much that there is nothing that we can do which excludes us from His compassion and consolation. He hates our suffering more than we do. But he cannot make us turn to Him for healing, forgiveness and comfort. We must have the humility to seek forgiveness and let Him back into our lives. God’s comfort, mercy, and renewal is available to each and every one of us but only after repentance.
There are two main temptations against the hope proclaimed by Isaiah in our first reading. The first is despair, where we believe our sins are too much for God’s mercy. We think he forgives others but he cannot forgive me. Does anyone here feel this way? Do you know someone who does? If so, we must challenge this despair with the promise of the Lord to bring comfort and mercy. He does not put a limit on his gift of forgiveness. All are eligible. There is nothing the Lord does not want to forgive. Jesus came to bring forgiveness, to bring mercy, to bring comfort. Despair has no place among the people of God and if we are feeling it, we must ask the Lord to increase our faith in him and in his love for us.If we give him an opening into our darkness, he will not delay to rush in with his love and comfort!
The other temptation is more subtle and more common in our time. This is the sin of presumption, where we assume, if we need God’s mercy at all, it is automatically given to us. Presumption leads us to feel entitled to God’s mercy and comfort without repentance. Many no longer even bother to ask for it. Presumption is a sin against hope because it makes us self-satisfied; we feel saved by our own goodness and efforts rather than God’s complete gift of grace and forgiveness. God cannot forgive those who do not acknowledge their sins; God cannot save those who do not know they are lost. God cannot free those who do not realize that they are enslaved by worldly concerns and fears. Presumption manifests itself in the fact that fewer and fewer Catholics feel the need or desire to seek God’s forgiveness of their sins in the sacrament of reconciliation. God wants to restore us to spiritual health but we come up with a thousand excuses as to why we don’t need his mercy and can be justified on our own terms. Sometimes its difficult to be weak and vulnerable before God. It’s hard to admit our imperfections and wrongdoing. Most of us want to be strong, wise, and in control. But God cannot comfort us when we act this way.
“Prepare the way of the Lord,” both the prophet of the first reading and John the Baptist in the Gospel proclaim. Prepare the way of the Lord by acknowledging your sins and weaknesses to the Lord. Tell him how much you need him and want him to rule over your life. Share with him how many ways you fall short and get suckered into serving other masters like power, pleasure, and riches. Don’t be afraid to be little and weak because then God can comfort you! And then help others realize that they are loved by God, especially in their brokenness and weakness. Show them the mercy God has shown you! Yes, sometimes we may bottom out. Sometimes we may crash. But we are never so bad that God wants nothing to do with us. There is no limit to God’s love, nor to His Mercy. Pope Francis put it this way: the only limit to God’s mercy is the limit we put on His Mercy. Make the humble prayer of the psalmist your own and never lose hope of God’s infinite care for us: “Lord, let us see your kindness, and grant us your salvation.”
