Advent pause for weary minds

…and for heavy hearts and broken spirits, too.

My Inner Eeyore is out today, and I don’t think I should inflict her upon you; rather let us find a balm here, from today’s Office of Reading:

On this mountain the Lord of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
the web that is woven over nations;
he will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.
— Isaiah 25:6-8

Rest. Maybe wipe away a tear or two. It is okay to let yourself feel all of your sadness, sometimes. Otherwise, how will you recognize joy, when it comes?

Source

From Today’s Mass:

Do you not know, or have you not heard? The Lord is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does nto faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound. Through young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, they that hope in the Lord will renew their stregnth. They will soar with eagles wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.
–Isaiah 40:28-31

And…

Jesus said to the crowd: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Trust is the most difficult thing in the world; but when we trust, if we can trust, then everything is easy.

In our exile, we are free.