By Fr Hugh Pollock

One of the main themes of Advent is ‘waiting’, but ‘journeying’ too. Think of the journey of Mary in the visitation, the journey of the shepherds to the stable at Christmas, and especially the journey of the wise men, over long distances from around the world, making their way to greet God’s arrival on earth in human form.

It makes sense to me for us to join that journey this Advent, obviously beginning wherever we are, but with an intention of journeying towards the Lord in a way that makes a real impact on our lives. There are a number of ways in which we can do this; one might be joining in the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church as it flows around the world. Another way would be to get to daily Mass if possible. And another way would be to use the daily scriptures of Advent to guide us on our journey. In weeks one and two we have passages from the first two parts of the book of Isaiah, and in the third week and assortment from the Old Testament.

WEEK 1
Monday: Isaiah 2:1-5
Tuesday: Isaiah 11:1-10
Wednesday: Isaiah 25:6-10a
Thursday: Isaiah 26:1-6
Friday: Isaiah 29:17-24
Saturday: Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26

WEEK 2
Monday: Isaiah 35:1-10
Tuesday: Isaiah 40:1-11
Wednesday: Isaiah 40:23-31
Thursday: Isaiah 41:13-20
Friday: Isaiah 48:17-19
Saturday: Sirach 48:1-4,9-11

St. Jerome described Isaiah as the fifth evangelist because of all the prophetic language in his book, which we can now see as applying to the birth of Jesus, (though that was not Isaiah’s intention at the time. His concern was for the future of Israel and its people.) As we read these scriptures, they are full of famous passages and lines that we know so well. Perhaps we have listened to them in church or in recitals of Handel’s Messiah.

The first Monday sets us off on our journey with a pilgrim’s call to go up to the mountain of the Lord, to turn our feet and our thoughts towards Jerusalem. The Jews travelled three times a year to Jerusalem and many of the psalms are pilgrim prayers. The prayer here is for peace and for justice among all peoples, an end to war, which is a fine start to, or theme for, to our journey. In the readings we will find many calls for peace, sometimes in expressed in Utopian terms, as if in an imaginary world, but sometimes too as the world coming together to share the heavenly banquet; to sit down and eat together in peace.

Sometimes again, the image is of the poor being given justice. (This will be reinforced this year by the Cafod Campaign to ‘Live Simply’, based on Paul VI’s encyclical Populorum Progressio, in which he quotes St.Ambrose: “When you give to the poor you are simply returning what is his.”)

The last day of the week sums up the journey with these words of the Lord, “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear these words behind you, ‘This is the way, follow it.’”

The second week continues the theme of hope, especially as we move into the second part of the book of Isaiah (Chapters 40-55), which is believed to have been written during the Exile in Babylon, as the deported looked for a return to Jerusalem. Tuesday’s reading is one that lifts the hairs on my neck as it speaks to us of God consoling us, speaking to our hearts and calling on us to prepare for his arrival. As the week goes on the Lord tells us not to be afraid, to have courage, he will teach us, lead us, will fill us with happiness and integrity, if we follow his commandments as Ps 119 said. There is a real sense of God leading us into the promised land, a land which is attainable if we follow his guidance.

The third and last week is the Octave before Christmas and has special readings. These are taken from a variety of places in the Old Testament.

WEEK 3
Monday: Jeremiah 23:5-8
Tuesday: Judges 13:2-7, 24-25a
Wednesday: Isaiah 7:10-14
Thursday: Song of Songs 2:8-14
Friday: 1 Samuel 1:24-28
Saturday: Malachi 3:1-4,23-24

Here there is a rich mixture of prophecy and birth stories, like the birth of Samson and the son of King Ahaz, who was to be called Emmanuel; that beautiful love story of the Song of Songs that St. Ambrose saw as foretelling Christ’s coming to us in response to the Church’s love for him. Finally on Christmas Eve we read of God’s covenant with David, promising always to love him as a father; that his throne will stand forever. It is in that love and that promise to us all that our journey comes to an end and we celebrate Christmas with joy.