Where are our blooming deserts? (Fr. James Martin)

    [I]n the future that God promises us, says Isaiah: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” In God’s reign, everything can grow and everyone can flourish. 

   This is beautiful imagery, but it can feel far from where we are today. All we need do is look around and see the war in Ukraine, poverty in our inner cities and people still suffering and dying from Covid to know that we are far from Isaiah’s vision. How can we keep the faith in the midst of such misery? LGBTQ people also know what it means to live in hope and have their hopes dashed, often by the very church that encourages these hopes. Sometimes it’s hard to find signs of God’s presence among us. 

   That’s why Sunday’s Gospel passage, about John the Baptist, is so extraordinary. From his jail cell, John sends messengers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one?” In response, Jesus invites John to notice what is happening: the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame walk. 

   So a question for us today is: Where are our blooming deserts? Where are our rejoicing steppes? In other words, where are the signs of God’s presence in our daily lives? Advent is all about desire. Can you desire to notice these things? 

--Fr. James Martin,
Facebook, December 10, 2022

Image source: https://petertchattaway.substack.com/p/the-chosen-season-two-episode-four
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Losing sight of the mystery (St. Pope John Paul II)

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

--Isaiah 35:1

    The loss of contact with God's wise design is the deepest root of modern man's confusion; By living "as if God did not exist," man not only loses sight of the mystery of God, but also of the mystery of the world and the mystery of his own being. 

--Pope Saint John Paul II 

Image source: https://bcworldview.org/blossoms-in-the-barren-places/
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God speaks through the gritty and the humble (James T. Keane)

    The truth is attractive. John the Baptist speaks the truth, and they come flocking to him. He doesn’t seek glory for himself—in fact, he accepts that he must become less so that Jesus can become more. And he preaches not for his own gain, but to proclaim a future wonder just being born as Jesus begins his ministry. So his vehemence and the force of his message—come forth and confess your sins, because the kingdom is at hand—come through clearly and effectively. Good news about the future and forgiveness while you’re at it… not a bad deal. 

    We see that so often today, both in popular media and on the local level: the slick and clever message that doesn’t stick, doesn’t last; the preachers whom the writer Katelyn Beaty calls “celebrities for Jesus,” who are looking to make a buck and end up hurting Christians—and losing their way completely. 

    But then we look at the events we commemorate in the season in which we are now fully engaged: the Christ Child about to be born to the least likely of people in the most humble of circumstances. There’s no reason to be drawn to that person either, on the surface of it—and yet he attracts shepherds, kings, wise men, angels. And John the Baptist himself, eventually, someone who knew that God speaks most clearly through the gritty and the humble. That’s hot. 

--James T. Keane 

Image source: Mattia Preti (Il Cavaliere Calabrese), John the Baptist Preaching (1665), https://www.famsf.org/artworks/saint-john-the-baptist-preaching
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 14, 2025: Be patient, brothers and sisters...

Be patient, brothers and sisters...
What are you expecting? 

    In this Gaudate Sunday’s reading from Isaiah, the prophet offers those who have remained faithful in exile a portrait of God in his creative wonder, creating things anew, bringing what was lifeless back to life: The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom when your God comes to the earth to save you, bringing everlasting joy. Our limited human vision has a hard time imagining this miraculous renewal; we are afraid to hope, too scared to see our own limitations as possibilities – we can’t see with God’s eyes. We can’t really expect, only hope: hope in the fulfillment of the promise, hope that our own eyes will be opened, hope that our ears will be cleared… 

    Like John the Baptist in this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew, we have built up so many expectations around the coming of Jesus. Like the Israelites before him, John thinks he knows what to expect: a Messiah who comes in a blaze of wrath, a powerhouse ready to take on the world! But Jesus is quick to point out that John and his followers just need to open their eyes: the prophecies are being filled right in front of them: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. Jesus doesn’t come to meet human expectations: he comes to fulfill God’s promise of salvation, bringing redemption to all who accept God’s invitation to relationship. 

    And what are we to do, as we wait? Trust, as the psalmist does, that God will keep his faith (Psalm 146), sustaining us, protecting us, raising us up, setting us free. Even if we really understood what that meant, it’s not easy to wait; waiting requires patience, as James tells his readers, repeating that word four times in this week’s short passage. Patience, patience, patience… It's not easy. 

    Alas, there is no “What to Expect” book for hearts waiting pregnantly for Jesus to come, and we can’t know what Jesus’s coming will bring to our lives. But we can be patient, trusting that the depth of our love will deepen our ability to wait, hearts firm, as we embody God's love for all, expectantly, with patience.

This “vintage” post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

When my body won't hold me anymore (The Avett Brothers)

When my body won't hold me anymore
And it finally lets me free
Will I be ready?
When my feet won't walk another mile
And my lips give their last kiss goodbye
Will my hands be steady when I lay down my fears, my hopes, and my doubts?
The rings on my fingers, and the keys to my house
With no hard feelings 

When the sun hangs low in the west
And the light in my chest won't be kept held at bay any longer
When the jealousy fades away
And it's ash and dust for cash and lust
And it's just hallelujah
And love in thought, love in the words
Love in the songs they sing in the church
And no hard feelings 

Lord knows, they haven't done much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Mmm, hmm

When my body won't hold me anymore
And it finally lets me free
Where will I go?
Will the trade winds take me south through Georgia grain?
Or tropical rain? Or snow from the heavens?
Will I join with the ocean blue?
Or run into a savior true?
And shake hands laughing
And walk through the night, straight to the light
Holding the love I've known in my life
And no hard feelings 

Lord knows, they haven't done much good for anyone
Kept me afraid and cold
With so much to have and hold
Under the curving sky
I'm finally learning why
It matters for me and you
To say it and mean it too
For life and its loveliness
And all of its ugliness
Good as it's been to me 

I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies
I have no enemies

To hear The Avett Brothers sing, “No Hard Feelings,” click on the video below. 

Image source: https://blog.adw.org/2017/12/walking-toward-the-light-in-advent/
Video source.  

Unity in the mind and heart of God (Steve Goodier / Henri Nouwen)

We don’t get harmony when
everybody sings the same note.
Only notes that are different can harmonize.
 The same is true with people.

--Steve Goodier

    If you dare to believe that you are beloved before you are born, you may suddenly realize that your life is very, very special. You become conscious that you were sent here just for a short time, for twenty, forty, or eighty years, to discover and believe that you are a beloved child of God. The length of time doesn’t matter. 

    You are sent into this world to believe in yourself as God’s chosen one and then to help your brothers and sisters know that they are also Beloved Sons and Daughters of God who belong together. You’re sent into this world to be a people of reconciliation. You are sent to heal, to break down the walls between you and your neighbors, locally, nationally, and globally. 

    Before all distinctions, the separations, and the walls built on foundations of fear, there was a unity in the mind and heart of God. Out of that unity, you are sent into this world for a little while to claim that you and every other human being belongs to the same God of Love who lives from eternity to eternity. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night over the Rhône (1888), https://finearttutorials.com/guide/unity-in-art/
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Mary's sacred flesh (St. Hildegard of Bingen)

Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which celebrates the belief that Mary was preserved from original sin from birth, making her a uniquely pure vessel to bear Jesus.

The medieval mystic and composer St. Hildegard of Bingen captured the ecstasy of Mary’s response to God's invitation to bear his Son in her beautiful chant, “O virga mediatrix” (12th c.): 

Alleluia!
O virga mediatrix,
sancta viscera tua
mortem superaverunt
et venter tuus omnes creaturas illuminavit
in pulchro flore de suavissima integritate
clausi pudoris tui orto. 

Alleluia!
O branch and mediatrix,
your sacred flesh
has conquered death,
your womb all creatures illumined
in beauty’s bloom from that exquisite purity
of your enclosed modesty sprung forth. 

To hear St. Hildegard of Bingen’s spectacular “O Virgo mediatrix,” presented by Laurie Monahan and Barbara Thornton, click on the video below:

Happy Feast of the Annunciation!

Image source: Ukranian artist Ivanka Demchuk, Annunciation, https://stories.spu.edu/articles/from-the-reader-3
Video source