As Christians of today we find ourselves in much the same position (as the people in Isaiah's time). In terms of Isaiah's words, our world is becoming visibly less clean and fresh, and it needs renewal or recreation (cf. Wordsworth, "The world is too much with us"). We have all sorts of people wounded and broken in body and spirit, and not just "naturally" so, and can we say that evil men and women do not have a major hand in running our world? Jesus has come and changed everything by His living, dying, and rising, but we still wait in hope to see the fullness of His salvation.
So do Isaiah's words bring us to hope, to trusting the Lord even in our darkness and frustration? Are we willing to live the life of the beatitudes as we await the revelation of the Lord in our world?
If not, can we experience the coming feast of the Birth of Christ in any authentic way?
- Chas Kestermeier, S.J.
