Isaiah 40 – Now
begins the Second Isaiah chapters – the Book of Consolation - Isaiah here begs
Yahweh to console his people:
A
voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness
A way
for Yahweh.
Make
a straight highway for our God
Across
the desert.
Let every
valley be filled in,
Every
mountain and hill laid low, . . .
Then
the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed
And
all mankind shall see it (40:3-4).
The Lord will “come with power” (40:10) “like a shepherd
feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms” (40:11). The majesty of God is
proclaimed. Even all the mighty nations are “as nothing in his presence”
(40:16).
The creation reveals the majesty of God. “He has stretched
out the heavens like a cloth, spread them like a tent for men to live in. He reduces
princes to nothing, he annihilates the rulers of the world. Scarcely are they
planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, than
he blows on them. Then they wither” (40:22-24). The stars answer to him like
soldiers to their commander.
Young
men may grow tired and weary,
Youths
may stumble,
But
those who hope in Yahweh renew their strength,
They
put out wings like eagles.
They
run and do not grow weary,
Walk
and never tire (40:30-31).
From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through
Quakerism
Part 34
I would be remiss, however, if I did not also say that I was
very pleasantly surprised at many of the wonderful things I experienced coming
back. The first thing was the other side of the “little fish, big pond” problem
I mentioned, for it wasn’t all negative. The pond I was now in was huge. The
number of people who went to Mass at my parish church each week exceeded the
number of people I mingled with at yearly meeting gatherings among Friends. The
priests we had came from Ireland, India, and other countries as well. When I
visited Israel in 1994 and attended Mass in Jerusalem, I worshiped with people
from every continent and language group. We prayed in Latin, English, and
French. The homily was given in Arabic and German (half and half). This was a church that was universal. And
while among Catholics a far greater proportion of people participated in
worship on what appeared to be a superficial level, there were also many holy
and devoted men and women, men and women who had given up everything to devote
themselves to the Church (in religious orders) and men and women who were
deeply imbued with their faith as lay people. I came to love the diversity and universality of it.
There were also forms of devotion and practice in the Church
that were different from those I had come to know—particularly the kinds of
simple devotion to and emulation of Jesus that mark some of the religious
orders like Mother Teresa’s Sisters, who live to serve the poor and seek Jesus’
face in the faces of those who are dying or in need. This was one of the great
blessings I encountered coming back, and it made me realize that faithfulness
does include this serving dimension, a dimension I had resisted among Friends
because it had been so politicized.
There have also been many blessings that I had not
anticipated at all: a sense of deep appreciation for the sacraments and
liturgy, for example, or the benefits I have found in simply reading the little
prayer book I use, Magnificat. Not
all you pray has to be “yours” in the sense of being original. Christian
believers are joined together in one body and we feed each other by the
ministries we perform well. When I was going through the process of getting
ready to return to communion, for example, I was not supposed to receive the
Eucharist. It is a matter of some controversy among some that the Catholic
Church restricts the taking of communion when you are not in full union or not
in good standing with the Church, but I
found it acceptable to be prevented. It seemed right to me that I submit
myself to the rules and discipline of the Catholic Church I wanted to be part
of, and I had learned as a Friend that rules and discipline are not extraneous
to the health of the community. I found
to my surprise that my Quaker orientation actually enriched the time of outward
“deprivation” I went through. I found it meaningful that just before the
reception of communion, everyone says, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you,
but only say the word and I shall be healed”. These words, of course, are
spoken in Scripture by a person who was not able to receive Jesus physically
into his home. He was a centurion and a foreigner, and no Jew in good standing
was supposed to enter into the house of a Gentile. But the whole point of the exchange between him and Jesus is to show
that Jesus’ physical presence is not the critical thing. The centurion’s faith
is. It is his faith that results in the healing of his servant, not Jesus’
entry into his house (Matt. 8: 5-13). That was my situation too. I couldn’t
receive Jesus into my “house” yet either, but I could and did receive him in
faith.
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