DAILY ROMAN CATHOLIC READINGS AND SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

Wednesday, 11th December 2024
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WEDNESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT

Is 40: 25-31 Ps 103: 1-4, 8, 10 Mt 11: 28-30
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HOPE IN THE POWERFUL GOD!

The Book of Isaiah is one of the largest books of the Old Testament. The timeline of the book spans over two centuries of the history of Israel, i.e., from the rule of the Assyrians from 745 BC till the return of the Israelites to their homeland in 520 BC and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple around the year 516 BC. Thus, the Book of Isaiah stretches over three timelines, i.e., chapters 1-39 to the period before the capture of Israel by the Babylonians, chapters 40-55 during the exile of the Israelites in Babylon, and chapters 55-66 to the period after the exile, i.e., the return of the Jews to Jerusalem.

Today’s first reading from the 40th Chapter belongs to the second section of the book of Isaiah, wherein the kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem lay in ruin after the invasion of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the temple and took many to exile in Babylon. Those who remained faced two major crises: the loss of their houses, homeland, and place of worship, as well as the crisis of faith, i.e., God’s apparent inability to protect them from this disaster. The latter crisis led some to entertain the thought that perhaps the Babylonian gods were the true gods, more powerful than the Lord God, who had abandoned them.

It is in this context that Prophet Isaiah instils hope in the lives of the people that God will bring deliverance to them and redemption from the Babylonians. The reading of today is all about having faith and trust in the Lord, who is the only God. Isaiah reminds the people to look around and infer! The entire world is the manifestation of His creative power and strength. He can make the weak strong and the strong weak. Such is His power, which surpasses every calamity and difficulty. The season of Advent is all about hope. May the meditative reading of the Word of God from today’s liturgy instill in us hope and confidence in the redemptive power of the Lord.

Response: Bless the Lord, O my soul.

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