Is 58:9b-14 Ps 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 Lk 5:27-32

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer The Daily Reflections

“Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength…” Is 58: 9b-11

When reading the passage from Isaiah chosen for today’s first reading, I am left with little to say. Isaiah has said, “If you remove from your midst oppression…light shall rise for you in the darkness.” I feel there are few greater truths that could be more useful in today’s society which so lacks light and direction. With so much potential wrapped in such smothering obscurity, I can think of no better remedy than these words from Isaiah.

A problem that often finds those of us living in the comfort of the first world is that of worth and meaning. We ask ourselves what jobs will provide us the most meaning or what college major will provide us with the most worth in the long-run. We often feel our lives to be inadequate and we struggle with the meaning of our seemingly trivial existence. Here the Lord has given us the key to our internal struggle. He calls each of us to remove the oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech which reside amongst ourselves and others, and replace it with bread for the hungry, companionship for the lonely, and hope for the hopeless.

When so much has been given to us without question, it is often difficult to cherish that which should be held most sacred, that is the sanctity and grace of our individual lives. If we were able to see our lives under such a light I doubt we would so often struggle with the idea of a greater purpose or meaning. So instead of asking ourselves, “what is the purpose of my seemingly trivial existence,” let us begin to ask ourselves how we might use the time God has given to us in a way that will not only provide meaning for ourselves, but for all of those in God’s greater community. For it is within the community of God, a global community including all of our brothers and sisters, that we will find meaning, or as Isaiah so said, we will find guidance and strength.