15 December 2019
Third Sunday of Advent
The book of the Prophet Isaiah has 66 chapters of prophecies. Some of the prophecies are of good news. Some of them are of bad news. The key is faithfulness to God and hope in his power to save. If we can manage to stay faithful, then we have a right to hope in God’s saving promises, as metaphorically illustrated for us by Isaiah’s prophecies.
“The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers” (Isaiah 35:1-2). This is good news for the practitioner of Ignatian spirituality. Metaphorical texts are open for our imaginative interpretation and application to our lives. We can imagine, in prayer, a desert becoming green and teeming with abundant life. We can imagine a garden and animals and flowers where before there was only sand. This can help us deepen our appreciation of what it means for God to be in our lives and to bless us with his grace.
There needs to be one little caveat, though, which is this: it’s the grace we want, not the flowers. It’s God’s presence we want, not the garden. If you have reached a point where you have learned how to practice Ignatian spirituality, then you, especially, must stay sober enough not to confuse God himself with his gifts to us. Many of God’s gifts come and go, and they are helpful insofar as they lead us to him, but we must not clutch at the gift if that makes us underestimate the giver. God knows what He is about. He has even greater gifts prepared for us.