Portfolio of Illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg published in the Catholic Worker from 1949 to 1982 – Number ii
Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Psalm 147: 1-12
Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5-8
Advent is a time to reflect on the Incarnation, the embodying of God, as manifested in the birth, life, and, ministry of Jesus.
In Matthew’s Gospel, we read that Jesus looked with compassion on the suffering ones of his own time and place. He recognized that they were “lost,” alone, like sheep who had wandered and had no one to guide them back to community, to home. Jesus responded by being a healing, accompanying Presence.
He invited his followers to do the same. He taught them everything he knew and sent them out to give His love away. Today, Jesus calls us to be the temple of God’s Spirit in our own time, wherever we are, to offer healing presence to the diseased, to accompany those who have lost their way, to those who are “limping” through life, to those who suffer, and, to those who cannot find peace or “home.”
Advent is a time to invite the compassion of Christ to be born and nourished and sustained in us, and then to let it flow freely through us to others. Albert Orsborn’s hymn puts it beautifully:
“Except I am moved with compassion,
How dwelleth Thy Spirit in me?
In word and in deed, burning love is my need,
I know I can find this in Thee.”
Freely we have received, freely we will give. Matthew 10:8
– Yvonne Jensen
