The morning was one of my favorite kind of Sunday mornings. There was nothing planned to force me to submit to the tyranny of the time displayed on the alarm clock. I could sleep in or get up - whichever suited my fancy. Light was just starting to brighten the world outside our bedroom when I decided to get out of bed and start the day. Looking to the east toward the horizon a thin layer of light blue sky lay over the darkened tops of the mountains. A thin gauzy layer of silvery gray clouds was painted just over the blue sky. The intermixture of sky and clouds promised a beautiful sunrise so I pulled open the blinds and settled in to read Morning Prayer.
It is an axiom of spiritual pursuit that some days the gifts of the ancient fathers can readily be separated from the words minted together some 18 centuries ago but on other days it is would be easier to read the soul of a stone. This was a day when the words simply did not speak to my heart. I closed up the book and went to get ready to go to Mass. I looked out the window toward the east one last time. The thin gray clouds had thickened and settled down on the mountain tops. A half hearted snow squall was flurrying past us driven by gusty winds that rattled the glass doors on the fireplace. There would be no real sunrise today, no ribbons of orange, pink and blue to welcome the day. Instead there was just a gradual brightening from a dark gray dawn to a light gray day. My mood matched the sky.
The first reading at Mass was from Isaiah, chapter 8 and 9. Because Isaiah, more than other Old Testament prophet, foretells the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, we read from Isaiah extensively both in the scriptures for the Mass as well as in the Office of Readings. In Isaiah 11, Isaiah directly predicts the coming of Christ from out of the lineage of David. Jesus announces his divinity in Luke 4 by proclaiming it is he is who referred to in Isaiah 61 as the one who says:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free…”
The problem is that I find Isaiah hard to read. As much as I try to listen, I can’t heard what Isaiah says that might be important for me to understand personally, something in his text that speaks directly to heart and not my head. I have long appreciated the importance of Isaiah but his words just don’t move me. Until today.
We read about the people who lived near Capernaum in the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.“
I read the verse over and over again even though it meant the rest of the reading and responsorial Psalm went by me. I was drawn to the words of Isaiah as never before.
It was not until Monsignor O’Neill proclaimed the gospel that I refocused my attention what was going on around me. In the gospel reading from Matthew we heard that Jesus went to area around Zebulun and Naphtali, the exact same place referred to by Isaiah and he began to preach so that the prophecy of Isaiah could be fulfilled.
All morning my response to the sacred text I had read was flat, without life or meaning, reflection of the flat, featureless light of the sky outside. Then as I looked around me all the people around me in the cathedral, I became aware of the brightness of the light that burned in the hearts of everyone around me. This what Isaiah meant by the great light that shone upon the people. The light did not come from sky and shine upon them. It came from God and shone outward from within them.
The gloom of the morning that had pressed in upon me faded. My heart and my mind became ready to continue the Mass, my soul open to receive Holy Communion. I look forward to reading more from Isaiah.
May the grace, peace and mercy of the Lord be with you.
