Consolation, reparation, jubilation. These are the three ideas I see in today’s reading from Isaiah (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11). The setting is toward the end of the Babylonian exile. Remember God’s people had not been faithful to Him who allowed Jerusalem to be conquered by the Babylonians and the people led into exile and slavery. Now they were being liberated and allowed to return home. God now offers comfort and consolation to an oppressed and weary people. However, they must now make reparation for their sins. They have to lower the mountains of pride in their hearts and fill in the valleys of spiritual laziness (sloth). If they do this, not only will they find consolation, but also joy and jubilation.
God offers us consolation, comfort, and jubilation provided we are willing to undergo reparation (the sacrament of Penance) for our sins.
- Father Carl
“God makes greater speed to pardon a penitent
sinner than a mother to snatch her child out of the fire.”
~ Thoughts of the Cure D’Ars
