Friday of the 1st week of Advent (Year A)
Isaiah 29:17-24 | Psalm 26(27):1,4,13-14 | Matthew 9:27-31
I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:13)
Indeed, but what of the land of the dead, the land in which we now inhabit? The land of, as Isaiah described it:
those who gossip to incriminate others,
those who try at the gate to trip the arbitrator
and get the upright man’s case dismissed for groundless reasons. (Isaiah 29:21)
The land of those who have consciously rejected the call to love and, in doing so, oppressed others both physically and spiritually.
Isn’t it our calling to transform this world of darkness and despair into a land of light and hope, indeed the land of the living?
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I learned yesterday that the kidnapper of a local millionaire’s mother had been sentenced to life in prison, sparing him the alternative of death by hanging. Apparently, he surprised even the prosecutors by pleading in a letter to be put to death instead, and thereby to “repay his debt and be at peace,” especially to his aged mother who would no longer have anyone to take care of her.
Perhaps it was written in the heat of the moment, but to deprive his mother of her last (and perhaps only) begotten son strikes me as a perpetuation of pain rather than a repayment of debt. I guess this is why Mother Church takes a very dim view of suicide: the only pain it ends is that of the one who caused it all in the first place.
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As the oft-quoted saying goes, “where there’s life, there’s hope”. The converse is also true: when hope is lost, so too does the drive to live.
So let us offer all around us the precious gift of hope: an unexpected visit, a helping hand on a onerous task, or even a sympathetic ear and a kind word. Every day of our lives, but especially as we await the Advent of He who has been promised to us, we should encourage everyone (including ourselves), through our words and actions, to:
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
Hope in the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)
Amen.