Isaiah is a prophet (now considered by Biblical critics to be three men who lived in periods of time extending over several centuries before the Christian era), whose prophetic verses apply equally to the two major liturgical seasons of Christmastide and Passiontide/Eastertide, affording hope and joy in the liturgy of eager expectation, changing to a mood of grief and depression bordering on periods of apparent despair, and finally rebounding into the final and permanent victory over defeat and death through rebirth and resurrection. In Advent the scriptural verses concern just one who will be a light in the darkness for the upright, a light which will break forth like the dawn, as people follow the Lord’s advice to share bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, and remove slander and malicious speech from their midst. In Lent and Eastertide Isaiah first describes the “Suffering Servant,”, a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief at length yielding place to the triumphant victor leading out of darkness, desert sands, hunger and thirst into a land of fertile pastures and bubbling springs.

Isaiah stresses the necessity of practicing virtue, listing the ways in which each one who follows the law lives up to his discipleship and makes himself worthy of being truly one of God’s Chosen, members of the elect. Isaiah’s list parallels what Jesus proclaimed in the Beatitudes, the keynote of the Sermon on the Mount.These beatitudes indicate what the inner dispositions must be for those who would be included in the Kingdom of God. In the lengthy passage in the Gospel of Matthew can be found the means of putting into practice the conditions of discipleship: showing mercy, cultivating the virtue of humility, seeking peace, pursuing justice, loving one’s foe, and so on. Our good behavior, if it is to have a positive effect on others, must not, on the one hand, be concealed under a bushel, nor, on the other, be manifested in a show of pride, but proclaimed in the same manner as a light shines from a lantern, placed on a stand to dispel the darkness, like Portia’s ‘good deed shining in a naughty world.’ The conditions of belonging to the Kingdom of God are often given in symbolic language, since this kingdom is a spiritual one. The poor are the poor in spirit, the hungry and thirsty are those who pursue justice, the single-minded are those who keep their attention always focused on reaching the goal: in other words, seeking first the Kingdom of God, with the assurance of having our material needs looked after by a providential God, who knows our needs better than we do. By practicing good openly, ’’the just one will be a light in the darkness to the upright.”

Isaiah, of course, is the prophet we most associate with the Christmas good tidings. He is the one who gives us the graphic picture of a world in complete harmony with the sources of dissension and divisiveness removed. He pictures a utopian view of all of creation, an ideal age of peace, light and , innocence, ‘a time when wolf and lamb lie down together and a baby has no fear of the adder’s hole, a time when swords will be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into sickles and no more training for war. ’ It is an elaborate, poetic metaphor, expressing in another form the angelic greeting at Bethlehem, Peace on the earth to men of good will and the idyllic scene in the cave of the nativity with the description of a star, animals, shepherds, wise men with treasures, each group making its way to the scene, symbolic of creation and the basic Jesus virtues: obedience, humility, charity, faith and hope, perseverance and poverty, all united in the company of the Holy Family.

Pope Francis has amply demonstrated through his words and the example of his public gestures the need to articulate our faith by spreading the Gospel message through the power of our actions and example. In this way the light that shines in us will ignite a similar light in others. This is what is meant by the Light coming into the world, the Lux Christi which illuminates our lives and shines through us and in us, and is reflected in those who are exposed to it. Those who follow me, says the Lord, will have the light of life. In all the many ways in which we show our love of neighbor, we are demonstrating Christianity in action and proving our discipleship.