Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent
We hear a great deal from Isaiah during Advent, and rightfully so. So many of his prophecies breathe with the spirit of the Advent season. Today’s reading is no exception. We are promised that God’s people will find comfort, for they have paid double for all their sins. God will lower the mountains and fill in the valleys to make a highway for them, so that they can be brought home at last. The people may see themselves as little, as failures, as having no hope. But God has not forgotten their plight, and they will be rescued at last. God will act like a shepherd for all the people, seeking out the lost with great care, and saving them.
The Gospel reading picks up on the shepherd imagery at the close of the first reading, and intensifies it. Jesus presents us with the image of a shepherd who has a hundred sheep. Even if only one should stray, the shepherd will leave the ninety-nine to find that stray, if that’s what it takes to do it. Jesus then assures us that the Father looks on us in the same way: “it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost”.
But who are the little ones?
The mention of the sins of the people in the Isaiah passage might make us respond that the little ones are those who have been trapped or enslaved by sin. Moreover, when we think this way, we usually think of our own personal sins. The things each of us has done, or failed to do. This is true, of course. We cannot free ourselves from our sins by our efforts alone. God must come and save us. The Good News is that the Father, through the death and resurrection of Christ and the outpouring of the life-giving Spirit, has done so. By responding in faith and living in love, we are forgiven and healed.
But the term “little ones” means more than this. It also means those who are neglected, pushed aside, ignored or treated as nothing. People who suffer from the sin of others, directly or indirectly.
Here is but one example of how this can happen. I read how a man and a woman recently did a simple study of how people react to those with disabilities. One day, they went out on a street corner and then engaged some of the people passing by in conversation. The socializing went as we’d expect. The next day, they went to another street corner, with one difference. The woman sat in a wheelchair. People who spoke to them spoke only to the man, and scarcely looked at the woman, as though she had become invisible. In a real sense, she had.
We see a lot of discussion these days about “virtual reality” and “goggles” that we can wear that make us feel we are in a very different world. Well, “virtual reality” is hardly a recent invention. We can all live in worlds of our own making. We routinely, even unconsciously, screen out facts that contradict our opinions and ignore people who seem to have nothing to offer us. We quickly brand people and put them in boxes so that we can dismiss any claims they might make on our time. Some families have “black sheep” whom everyone else shuns. Many of us find scapegoats to blame for our troubles. Then, we blame them for the troubles we have visited on them. Yes, there are many “little ones”.
What wakes us up – or should wake us up – are the words of Jesus: “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers (or sisters), you do to me”. Jesus chose to be identified with the “little ones”, to be rejected and despised, to be treated (literally) as a scapegoat and put to death. His resurrection gives hope to “little ones” everywhere.
What ought we to do in the light of all this?
First of all, see if you can name your own “virtual reality”, your own “goggles” that may be blinding you (even unconsciously) to the presence of the little ones all around you. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you here. Then notice the little ones already in your life: the cashier, the taxi driver, the young single mother struggling to provide for her children, the immigrant. Acknowledge them, speak to them, encourage them, listen to them.
Secondly, as you scramble to prepare for Christmas and buy gifts for your loved ones, think about giving an Advent gift. Find an organization, like Catholic Relief Services or the diocesan Appeal, that is focused on bringing hope to the little ones here and throughout the world. God can work through your generosity to lower mountains and fill in valleys for people you may never meet in this life. But you will meet them eventually. Even more importantly, we will all meet Christ, who will judge us by how well we have served the little ones all around us.