Today’s readings offer both comfort and challenge and include both ancient and contemporary messages for us today. They are linked by the message that we are all called to participate in God’s work on earth in a variety of personal and communal ways.

As we experience these December days of increasing darkness leading to increasing light, Isaiah notes that God is forming the light and creating the darkness. It is during this time of darkness that God calls us closer to him, to be thoughtful, to be prayerful, to be grateful, to listen for our personal message, our calling.

Historically, the first reading refers to Cyrus who was called to liberate those in communal and personal exile, prefiguring Jesus, and our roles in the world today as liberating others from social gloom of injustice in all its forms. The imagery of justice descending like dew and the dew nurturing new growth allowing both salvation and justice to flourish is reassuring. But the reminder that God designed and made the earth “not to be a waste but to be lived in” suggest we have a role to play in the protection of all God’s creation.

Isaiah reassures “that there is no just and saving God but me” yet as Luke notes in later times, there was doubt and apprehension about this person Jesus who arrives on the scene with no CV, no wealth, no connections, no political power. How could this person possibly be the long-awaited earthly savior? Yet, Jesus suggests those hearing of his many healings validates his message of hope to the poor in body and spirit and is sufficient proof that he indeed is the one the world has awaited for the transformation.

The corporal body of Jesus is no longer with us, but the Spirit is ever present. The message of the Gospel invites each of us to participate in the work the Spirit has begun in caring for and uplifting our sisters and brothers while nurturing all the gifts of creation.

As we approach the longest night of the year, let us treasure this time to ponder how we can recognize, accept and continue the work of Jesus when he again shows us the way with the new light of Christmas.