7 December 2018
Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
In a very little while, the deaf shall hear and the blind shall see and the poor shall rejoice, but all who are ready to do evil shall be cut off (Cf. Isaiah 29:17-20). Thousands of years ago, the prophet Isaiah predicted that these things would happen “in a very little while.” He was correct then and he is correct now.
Our task then is to accept that we are deaf, so that we shall shortly hear, and to accept that we are blind, so that we shall shortly see, and to accept that we are poor, so that we shall shortly rejoice. Furthermore, we must make ourselves less ready to do evil, lest, in a little while, we will be cut off.
We are deaf and blind in the sense that we do not perceive the things that we should perceive. We have a tendency to tune out important messages from time to time, to be deaf and blind to what our own body and soul are trying to tell us, to be deaf to our neighbor’s call and blind to his needs, and, worst of all, to be deaf to God’s holy word and blind to his wondrous deeds. If we can accept our own deafness and blindness, then in a very little while we begin to “hear” and “see” that we are not the ultimate arbiters we sometimes think we are. We begin to “hear” and “see” that we need help from others and that therefore we are poor. By accepting this poverty, though, in faith, in a very little while we rejoice, because we know, by faith, that God is our Savior. Such rejoicing comes, then, from accepting poverty and blindness and deafness, and amidst such rejoicing, there is no longer any need for doing evil. On the contrary, we fortify ourselves against evildoing, against being “cut off,” by going to the sacrament of confession and by developing virtuous habits.