Isaiah prophesied that after the Messiah comes:

• "No more will you weep" (Is 30:19).
• "As soon as He (God) hears He will answer you" (Is 30:19).
• "The Lord will give you the bread you need and the water for which you thirst" (Is 30:20).
• "A voice shall sound in your ears: 'This is the way; walk in it' " (Is 30:21).
• "He will give rain for the seed that you sow in the ground" (Is 30:23).
• "The wheat that the soil produces will be rich and abundant" (Is 30:23).
• "Upon every high mountain and lofty hill there will be streams of running water" (Is 30:25).
• "The light of the moon will be like that of the sun and the light of the sun will be seven times greater" (Is 30:26).
• The Lord will bind "up the wounds of His people" (Is 30:26).
• He will give His Church the authority to "cure the sick, raise the dead, heal the leprous, expel demons (Mt 10:8).

The Messiah has come and is coming anew this Christmas season. This Christmas, Christ will do "more than we ask or imagine" (Eph 3:20). "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared" this Christmas "for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9). Raise your expectations. Christmas is not merely recalling Christ's past coming but meeting Christ personally here and now. "O come, divine Messiah!"

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Edward J. Gratsch, July 15, 2000

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 17, 2000