“Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!” Isaiah 35:4
I have found it harder to concentrate these days and my prayer is particularly unfocused. Too busy, too rushed, too preoccupied to concentrate. I get discouraged and wonder if I will ever deeply connect with God. My eyes need to be opened and my tongue freed from my own barriers to prayer. How do any of us get to that place when our own world is chaotic and so many of us are experiencing deep challenges in our lives?
Today’s reading from Isaiah offers a release. It was written as an encouragement for the beleaguered people of Judah, whose land and freedom had been taken away. But in this vital early part of Advent, it offers each one of us hope and joy.
Until December 17, the Church focuses Advent on the first reading rather than the gospel and most of those readings are Isaiah’s message of healing in our suffering and hope for a path to God.
Today we have a picture of people who are frightened, powerless and unable to walk, hear, see or speak. Where do we turn from here? Yet Isaiah tells us we will be healed from our challenges and offered a direct path to take us to God. This highway promised will be safe from robbers and wild beasts.
Not only that, but we are given a vision of a parched desert that suddenly springs into bloom with abundant flowers and springs of water. And our Psalm response for today is a powerful line from the same Psalm, “Our God will come to save us!”
Luke’s gospel gives us encouragement to trust in Jesus. While Jesus was speaking to a crowded house filled with Pharisees and teachers, some men came with a stretcher carrying their paralyzed friend for healing. They were unable to push through the crowd standing inside and outside the house, so they awkwardly carried their friend on his stretcher up to the roof. There, they pushed aside some tiles and lowered the stretcher right into the middle of the room. It must have created quite a scene in the middle of the teaching, but the friends believed in the power of Jesus to heal. It was to those friends on the roof that Jesus addressed his words, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”
In astonishment, the Pharisees muttered loudly about Jesus forgiving sins but Jesus stopped them asking, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?” Then he healed the man in front of all of them.
It is that kind of trust and faith that we long for and today we can beg Jesus to touch our hearts and distracted minds to heal us and save us.
Loving God, let these readings seep into my heart that I might beg you to water the desert in my soul and find my way to the safe road you have created for me. Help me to focus my love and attention on Jesus enough that I am not distracted by crowds or criticism as I beg for healing.
Maureen McCann Waldron
The most important part of my life is my family – Jim my husband of 47 years and our two children. Our daughter Katy, a banker here in Omaha, and her husband John, have three wonderful children: Charlotte, Daniel and Elizabeth Grace. Our son Jack and his wife, Ellie, have added to our joy with their sons, Peter and Joseph.
I think family life is an incredible way to find God, even in (or maybe I should say, especially in) the most frustrating or mundane moments.
I am a native of the East Coast after graduating in 1971 from Archbishop John Carroll High School in suburban Philadelphia. I graduated from Creighton University in 1975 with a degree in Journalism and spent most of the next 20 years in corporate public relations in Omaha. I returned to Creighton in the 1990s and completed a master’s degree in Christian Spirituality in 1998.
As our children were growing up, my favorite times were always family dinners at home when the four of us would talk about our days. But now that our kids are gone from home, my husband and I have rediscovered how nice it is to have a quiet dinner together. I also have a special place in my heart for family vacations when the kids were little and four of us were away from home together. It’s a joy to be with my growing family.
Writing a Daily Reflection is always a graced moment, because only with God’s help could I ever write one. I know my own life is hectic, disjointed and imperfect and I know most of us have lives like that. I usually write from that point of view and I always seem to find some sentence, some word in the readings that speaks right to me, in all of my imperfection. I hope that whatever I write is in some way supportive of others.
It’s an incredibly humbling experience to hear from someone who was touched by something I wrote. Whether the note is from someone across campus or across the world, it makes me realize how connected we are all in our longing to grow closer to God.
