keepingintouch

Saturday, December 6, 2008

According to the prophet Isaiah in the first reading for
the second Sunday of Advent ( Year B) (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11),
watching for God will comfort us. To be comforted by God
means watching for God’s activity in our lives and in the
world, knowing that in our darkest night we can awaken to
God’s presence as a small child awakens to the presence and
assurance of a loving parent. We can all snuggle together
under the protection of the Holy Comforter, who always
warms our body and soul with the heat of eternal love.
According to the Sacred Scriptures, being comforted by
God is not something to gather for ourselves only, but
something to give away. It means sacrificing at times our own
comfort.
Our own personal comfort zones may be filled with
excess – excesses in leisure time, food, material goods that we
could share with others. Sometimes a hug, a simple smile, or a
kind word brings comfort.
We are to comfort not just those who we love and
cherish but those who may not seem so lovable: those who
revere the gods of alcohol and drugs, the mentally ill who may
approach us in their disarray and confusion, the homeless who
have lost their jobs and their hope, the battered who feel in
their bodies the effects of abuse.

whisperings of nature