...to proclaim liberty to captives...Isaiah

Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has ANOINTED ME and he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and   release to the prisoners, and to annoince a year of favor from the Lord."

Thus speaks ISAIAH in today's first reading.

And thus spoke Jesus when he arose in the Synagogue to announce the purpose of his mission.

There are many ways for us to be "captives" through obsession with our Smart Phones, or more seriously through our addictions to sex, alcohol, drugs. From all of these we need to pray for release and seek it through rehab.

But then there are the captives in our prisons.

In the current decade the USA incarceration rate is the highest in the world.

The USA has 4.4 percent of the World population and yet has 22 percent of the world's incarcerated!

On any given day the USA has 2.3 million of our population in jails!

So too many of the drug addicted end up in jail rather than in rehab.

This is an issue that has potential bipartisan interest because entities so diverse a the conservative Koch Brothers and the ACLU think this is too much--the Koch brothers because it is a drain on our econmy, and the ACLU and the Catholic Bishops as excessive or devoid of understanding and compassion.

Jesus has come into our world to "heal the broken hearted."

Our Advent focus should be on healing,

and so we pray:

"Drop down dew you heavens from above

on our parched souls.

Anoint our furrowed brows

with the oil of healing, the oil of compassion,

the oil of mercy.

Deliver us from harsh and heartless jufgments.

Help us to cherish release and rehab rather then vengence.

Come Lord Jesus"

heal our broken hearts.

Amen