Tuesday of the First Week of Advent - St. Dominic Savio

I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.

- Luke 10:21

In Isaiah’s beloved vision of the peace and concord that will reign on the Earth at the Lord’s coming, we hear the promise: “The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.”  

The Readings today challenge us to look for the coming of that Child of the Promise who will bring peace, harmony, and justice to a world torn apart by war, injustice, discrimination, and fear. Children, in their innocence and purity, are free from the cynicism that clouds the vision of so many of us "grown ups," preventing us from seeing what it was that Isaiah saw. The world’s little ones—children and those who are children at heart—have the freedom to believe that Isaiah’s hope-filled vision can be realized, even in our imperfect world. 

 

When Dominic Savio was born to an impoverished Italian family in 1842, no one could have possibly foreseen how special the boy would be. Although he was only 14 years old when he died in 1857, few would share his clarity of vision and strong faith. It took another saint, his teacher and mentor, John Bosco, to see the promise, the possibility that lay in the child’s heart and soul. 

Take some time today to reflect on those things in your life that prevent you from trusting in the promises of Advent, especially the promise that the One for whom we are waiting will be and is being born in and for you.


Prayer for Tuesday of the First Week of Advent +
Look with favor, Lord God, on our petitions,
and in our trials grant us your compassionate help,
that, consoled by the presence of your Son,
whose coming we now await,
we may be tainted no longer
by the corruption of former ways.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(from The Roman Missal)