Graces will be given you; shepherds will guide you. That’s the message we hear this 2nd week of Advent from Second Isaiah. (Isaiah 40 ff)

The way to God’s holy mountain is not by sea, the easiest way to Jerusalem from Babylon, Second Isaiah tells Jewish exiles in Babylon this week. God will bring you over mountains and through a wilderness, but the valleys will be filled, the mountains made low, the crooked ways straight.

The writer is called Second Isaiah. Why? Because chapters 40-55 of Isaiah are generally attributed to an anonymous poet who prophesied toward the end of the Babylonian exile, possibly 50 years after Jerusalem fell to the Assyrians. Adopting the name and style of the earlier prophet, Second Isaiah urges Jewish exiles to come back to the land where they belong.

Yet, not everyone listened. Many gave up on that land far away and God who calls them there. They’re fitting in. Babylon is their home now. This week’s readings describe how changed the exiles were. No longer singing songs of Zion, they’re singing Babylon’s songs.  

This week’s Advent readings, mostly from Second Isaiah, recognize how hard the wilderness journey was for them and now for us. It’s hard for a prophet to win over exiles comfortable in a foreign land. But the desert will bloom and a highway will be there, a holy way. (Monday) God speaks tender, comforting words to his people on the way. (Tuesday)  Those who hope in him will renew their strength, soaring on eagle’s wings. (Wednesday) Though we’re as insignificant as a worm, God grasps our hand and says: “Fear not; I am with you.” (Thursday) God, our teacher, shows us the way to go. (Friday) Great prophets like Elijah also accompany us. (Saturday)

Jesus is with exiles like us, the Gospel readings say. We are like the paralyzed man lowered through the roof in Capernaum.. (Monday)  Like stray sheep, the Good Shepherd finds us. (Tuesday)  “Come to me all who are weary…” he says. (Wednesday) He sends prophets and guides like John the Baptist and Elijah.   (Thursday) Rejected like John the Baptist, Jesus still teaches. (Friday) He will save us, unrecognized like John and Elijah. (Saturday)

John the Baptist takes up the cry of Second Isaiah this week. His is the strong voice featured in the gospel readings in the following days of Advent.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, is remembered December 8, the Feast of her Immaculate Conception, and on December 12, feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was not an easy way Mary was given. She had to go the way of the exiles: over mountains and deserts and wilderness. She gives us an example. Follow her.