Pope Francis said that as a Father, God consoles his children by "raising up comforters" who are tasked with encouraging the people by announcing that their tribulation and pain is over, and that their sin has been forgiven.
"This is what heals the afflicted and frightened heart," he said, adding that for the people, consolation begins with the possibility of walking along the path God carves out for them in the desert, which is a "new path, rectified and viable" which allows them to return to their homeland.
The people to whom Isaiah speaks were living "the tragedy of exile," but now hear that they will be able to return to their homeland on a wide and level road, without the obstacles that often make the journey "arduous," he said.
Preparing this path, Francis said, "means to prepare a path of salvation and liberation from every obstacle and stumbling block."
When Isaiah says that he is the voice "of one crying out in the desert: prepare the way of the Lord," the Pope noted that it's a voice that seems to be crying out in a place where "no one is listening" and which mourns "the loss owed to the crisis of faith."
However, he stressed that the true story is not the one made by the powerful who are seen by the world, "but rather the one made by God together with his little ones."
Zechariah and Elizabeth were elderly and "marked by infertility," and Mary was a young virgin betrothed to Joseph, while the shepherds who met the infant Jesus "were despised and didn't count for anything," the Pope observed.
"It is the small ones, made great by their faith, the little ones who know how to continue to hope," he said, adding that it is they who are able to transform "the desert of exile, of desperate loneliness, of suffering, into a level road on which to walk to meet the glory of the Lord."
"Let us therefore teach hope, let us look forward faithfully to the coming of the Lord and whatever the desert of our lives, it will become a flowery garden."
Elise Harris was senior Rome correspondent for CNA from 2012 to 2018.