by Isaac Shao
Exiled on the island of Patmos, isolated from the world, cut off from the ones he loved, the apostle John received his apocalyptic vision: a sealed scroll in the hand of God; yet no one was found worthy to open it, so he began to weep loudly. Centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah spoke of the outcasts of Israel, who lamented their separation from God’s people, and the hopelessness of their future. The beginnings of today’s readings in the books of Revelation and Isaiah seem to share a sentiment of despondency.
The penitential season of Advent invites us to pull back a little from excess, to consider the conditions growing darker and more hostile outside our windows. I am thankful for the distinct seasons of our locale, and that includes winter, which through its encroaching darkness and frigidity, imposes a degree of temporal exile from the world of lucidity and activeness under sunlight. By now we have certainly felt the effect of shorter, colder days, and we won’t feel light and warmth return for a good while longer. Yet this season can be a gift of creation to help us live out the drama of salvation.
As we light the Advent candles, read the words of the scriptures, and wait in anticipation, we participate in a time of desolation in the grand narrative. Yet this is also the time of God’s piercing consolation. Even as we weep for the violence in the world and the sorrows in our lives, we hear “weep no more” and share in the vision of the Lamb that was slain, who is worthy, who reigns over all heaven and earth. Even as we brood over our own failings and blindness, we are encouraged to keep justice and do righteousness, gathered and included in God’s joyful house of prayer.
While in exile and isolation, John of Patmos experienced revelation that brought him closer to the creator of all things than imaginable. While rejected by Israel, the outcasts receive acceptance and promise from the Lord of all peoples. May God bless our Advent meditations and labors, and transform our desolation into glory.
Isaac Shao works as an engineer and lives in Jamaica Plain. When he’s not coding in C you may find him reading Tolkien or drawing saints.