The first reading for Gaudete Sunday is taken from Isaiah 35: “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.” It is a message of radiant hope, but this chapter does not arise in a peaceful moment. Its beauty comes precisely because it follows a very dark and threatening context.

Isaiah 34 is a chapter of devastation and judgment carrying one of the most severe judgment oracles in the entire book. It describes:

• God’s judgment upon Edom, a symbol of all nations hostile to God.
• Land turned into a burning pitch.
• Streams turned into tar.
• A wilderness inhabited only by wild animals and demons.
• A world of chaos, desolation, and hopelessness.

Isaiah 34 begins with: “Draw near, O nations, to hear… He will hand them over to slaughter.” It ends with a picture of a land emptied and cursed. Isaiah 34 is the image of the world ruined by sin, human violence, and divine judgment.

Isaiah 35 is the surprise of reversal: hope rising from devastation. Against the backdrop of that scorched, cursed wasteland, Isaiah suddenly proclaims: “The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom.” This is not sentimental poetry. It is a proclamation that God’s mercy has the final word, not desolation. The land that looked dead will come back to life. People who felt abandoned will be restored. Judgment is not the end; renewal is. God transforms the desert created by human sin into a garden created by divine grace.

The historical setting is that Jerusalem and all of Judah is under the threat of Assyrian domination. Chapters 28–39 reflect the time when the Assyrian Empire is expanding southward, already having conquered the 10 northern tribes. In the south, people feel helpless, afraid, and uncertain whether God will save them. The political and religious leadership has a track record of leadership failure. As a result Jerusalem seems vulnerable and the people are disheartened and spiritually weak. Chapters 28–33 are a series of oracles of woe, warnings against foreign alliances instead of trusting in God, and rebukes for spiritual blindness of leaders and people alike. 

The crisis is quite real and existential. Assyrian invasion and victory means exile, destruction, and the end of the nation. Into this atmosphere of anxiety and judgment comes the promise of chapter 35 which mirrors the structure often seen in Isaiah: pending judgment but with the promise of hope and delivery. Isaiah 35 is a deliberate contrast to the darkness that precedes it.

Because it follows a vision of utter ruin, Isaiah 35 is proclaiming:

• God can bring joy from sorrow.
• God can create life where everything seems dead.
• No desert—literal or spiritual—is beyond God’s power to transform.
• Exile and fear will not have the last word.
• The journey home (35:8–10) is guaranteed by God’s own mercy.

Isaiah 35 is both a climax of hope after chapters of threat, and a transition toward the great consolation of Isaiah 40: “Comfort, give comfort to my people.” Against the backdrop of despair, God announces an unexpected future filled with joy, healing, return, and redemption. That is why Isaiah 35 is chosen for the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday: because in the middle of the darkness and weariness of life, God makes the desert bloom.

Image credit: Prophet Isaiah, Mosaic, Right of Lunette, South Wall of Presbytery, Basilica of San Vitale | PD-US | scripture image from Canva CC-0

On their return, the seventy-two are amazed at the power that has been given them through the name of Jesus. They have driven out demons, furthering Jesus’ attack on Satan’s dominion in this world. Jesus envisions Satan falling from the sky through their ministry, another way of saying that the eschatological or final battle between good and evil is taking place now; the victory is being won in Jesus’ name (John 12:31; Rom 16:20). But the disciples must not lose their perspective. The prize is not human glory through feats of power but heavenly glory through following Jesus to Jerusalem, to Calvary. 

Mission in the Modern World. I have often wondered if this passage also presents a difficulty to the modern Church in the sense that some people have the idea that “mission” is part of the realm of the “professionals” in the church. The Franciscans were the first religious order to have a specifically missionary charism in our rule of life. And that is good, but does it allow admirers of St. Francis to stay on the sideline and let “the professionals” take care of mission? I would offer that this gospel passage calls on all disciples to be part of mission. R. Allen Culpepper offers that this passage contains 10 principles of mission by which every generation should be guided:

1. affirms the world’s need for mission
2. points to the importance of prayer in and in support of mission
3. insists on the active participation of every disciple
4. warns of the realistic dangers, barriers and uncertainty of mission
5. singularity of purpose
6. the goal of mission: peace upon this household
7. the host sets the context for the missioner’s witness
8. recognition that mission and witness will not always succeed
9. nevertheless, perseverance is the hallmark of mission
10. despite the evidence or no, be assured about the ultimate fulfillment of God’s redemptive mission. This ultimate fulfillment, even if we are unsuccessful – this is why we rejoice.

On a more lighthearted note, among Franciscans we might wonder why St. Francis chose Luke 10:4 (and parallels) as the “marching orders” for our life. It would be a little more interesting if we also took on Luke 22:36. Then we would have a bag, a purse, and swords!

Image credit: The Exhortation to the Apostles | James Tissot | ca. 1890 | Brooklyn Museum NYC | PD-US

Approximately 1,200 men and women reported to Alumni Hall at the Naval Academy yesterday morning for Induction Day – Class of 2029, culminating in an Oath of Office ceremony. These incoming plebes (freshmen) said goodbye to their families and were processed through various stations inside Alumni Hall to become members of the Naval Academy’s Class of 2029. Stations include uniform issue, medical examinations, haircuts, and learning to salute. The day culminated with the Oath of Office ceremony at 6 pm on Worden Field (a new location due to the construction at T-Court) along the banks of the Severn River. After the ceremony, plebes met with their families for the last time until Plebe Parents’ Weekend, in mid-August.

Class of 2029 Stats – Men: 814 ( 10, 2987 applications); Women: 373 (4,859 applications); Minority: 511; Legacy: 38 Men, 27 Women.

As one of my classmates wrote to me: “same as it was 55 years ago… only a lot hotter”.

Memorial Day 2025

“Today, we’re not just fortunate heirs of their legacy. We have a responsibility to be the keepers of their mission—that truest memorial of their lives: the actions we take every day to ensure that our democracy endures, the very idea of America endures.” (President Biden, Memorial Day, 2024)

“The Americans who rest beneath these beautiful hills and in sacred ground across our country and around the world, they are why our nation endures. Each simple stone marker arranged in perfect military precision signifies the cost of our blessings. It is a debt we can never fully repay. But it is a debt we’ll never stop trying to fully repay, by remaining a nation worthy of their sacrifice.” (President Obama, Memorial Day 2015)

Video graciously forwarded this day by a good parishioner.