Is 8:23-9:3
But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
J
Joy & Woe
An important life lesson hovers over today’s reading from the Book of Isaiah. The gloom of chapter eight, where the prophet warns Judah of a looming catastrophe, lingers in chapter nine. Some of life’s sorrows— grief, for example— do not vanish neatly at the chapter break, but hang on. We may not be able to shake off the gloom so easily. And some days sadness and happiness arrive hand-in-hand. These are complicated truths to understand and embrace.
We may feel joy and sorrow together most at the bedside of a loved one who will die soon, or at a funeral. We might want to blame God for the pain we feel, or think that God isn’t keeping a very loving eye on us. But in our hearts, we also feel gratitude for better days and memories that make us smile. We know that, in good times and bad, God is always walking with us.
With these ideas in mind, take a look at today’s Gospel (Mt 4:12-23). Matthew quotes this passage from Isaiah as clearly fulfilled in the Galilean ministry of Jesus. Into our lives of uncertainty and darkness, the light of Christ has come. How does God’s light feel when it shines in your life?
—Fr. Joe Kraemer, SJ, is a priest of the West Province who was ordained at the Church of the Gesu in Milwaukee last June. He currently resides and works in Seattle, Washington.
Prayer
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
It is right it should be so
Man was made for Joy & Woe
And when this we rightly know
Through the World we safely go
—From Auguries of Innocence by William Blake