Truth has arisen from the earth, and justice looked down from heaven

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

Today, December 24th , as we celebrate the final day of Advent, our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah (51: 17---52: 2, 7-10) entitled “The good news is brought to Jerusalem ”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop.

The days at the end of Advent, from December 17 to Christmas, are designated by the Catholic Church to prepare for the celebration of Christmas. These days have special significance because they mark the beginning of the "O" Antiphons and the final days of Advent. These antiphons are a series of seven prayers, one for each day. They are sung during Evening Prayer, Vespers, or the Magnificat. The antiphons are based on Old Testament prophecies and use biblical imagery to proclaim the coming of Christ. The "O" Antiphons are the basis for the popular Advent hymn "O come, O come, Emmanuel".

Saint Augustine was born at Tagaste in Africa in 354. He was unsettled and restlessly searched for the truth until he was converted to the faith at Milan and baptized by Ambrose. Returning to his homeland, he embraced an ascetic life and subsequently was elected bishop of Hippo. For thirty-four years he guided his flock, instructing it with sermons and many writings. He fought bravely against the errors of his time and explained the Faith carefully and cogently through his writings. He is also a preeminent Catholic Doctor of the Church. His writings influenced the development of western philosophy and western Christianity, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period. He died in 430.

Isaiah, one of the greatest of the prophets, appeared at a critical moment in Israel’s history. The Northern Kingdom collapsed, under the hammerlike blows of Assyria, in 722/721 B.C., and in 701 Jerusalem itself saw the army of Sennacherib drawn up before its walls. In the year that Uzziah, king of Judah, died, Isaiah received his call to the prophetic office in the Temple of Jerusalem. Close attention should be given to chapter six, where this divine summons to be the ambassador of the Most High is circumstantially described.

The vision of the Lord enthroned in glory stamps an indelible character on Isaiah’s ministry and provides a key to the understanding of his message. The majesty, holiness and glory of the Lord took possession of his spirit and, at the same time, he gained a new awareness of human pettiness and sinfulness. The enormous abyss between God’s sovereign holiness and human sinfulness overwhelmed the prophet. Only the purifying coal of the seraphim could cleanse his lips and prepare him for acceptance of the call: “Here I am, send me!”

The ministry of Isaiah extended from the death of Uzziah in 742 B.C. to Sennacherib’s siege of Jerusalem in 701 B.C., and it may have continued even longer, until after the death of Hezekiah in 687 B.C. Later legend (the Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah) claims that Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, executed Isaiah by having him sawed in two. During this long ministry, the prophet returned again and again to the same themes, and there are indications that he may have sometimes re-edited his older prophecies to fit new occasions.