Central to Catholic Social Teaching is the concept of a ‘preferential option for the poor!’ Constantly through the Old Testament, we see God’s heart opening in compassion for the poor, the widow, the leper, and the orphan. Similarly, there are strong words for those who treat the poor unjustly or place huge burdens upon their backs and who do not welcome the stranger.

All of this is reflected beautifully in today’s reading from Isaiah. Echoing the words of Jesus in the Synagogue in Nazareth in Luke 4:18, ‘the deaf shall hear,’ ‘out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.’ Echoing the words of Mary’s Magnificat, ‘the meek shall obtain fresh joy,’ and the ‘neediest shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.’

Jesus constantly goes from the Temple and Torah to the people on the margins. In first-century Palestine, that was where one found the poor, the powerless and the oppressed. With a Torah formed heart, Jesus deeply encounters the rejected ones. Two blind men follow him. They cry loudly from their pain, their isolation, their rejection, and loneliness. Jesus’ heart opens in compassion. Matthew (writing to a Jewish community) has them use the title, ‘Son of David’, and in turn, Jesus invites from them a response in faith. ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’

Jesus touches their eyes and in so doing, breaks the ritual holiness codes of his day. He risks the ire of the scribes and Pharisees because he has encountered the faith of those in the margins, and they have encountered his compassion! This Advent may we grow in the kind of faith that inspires compassion.

By Br Damien Price cfc