Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray:
Everlasting Father,
All time belongs to you, and all the ages. In signs, in songs, in words of promise, you reassured your chosen ones, “I am with you; fear not.” You taught them through the prophets to trust that your saving deeds were not limited to the past.
When Jesus came, he fulfilled “all that was written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
The Church has found him everywhere in these same holy books.
Help me to find Jesus in my reading today, to listen to him, and to follow him with all my heart.
Amen.
Today's chapters are Isaiah 47-49.
Isaiah's words are momentarily addressed to Israel's pagan enemies. It was usual to depict a city as a young woman, so here it is "virgin daughter Babylon" who will face judgment for treating God's people mercilessly during their captivity. She forgot that Israel's God is Lord of all the earth.
Chapter 49 brings us another Song of the Servant of the Lord. The beginning words of this chapter are read for the Solemnity of the Birth of John the Baptist, and in the Acts of the Apostles we find St Paul taking inspiration from verse 6 to begin preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles and thus changing the course of history. There are unforgettable words of consolation in this chapter, too, including the often quoted, "Can a mother forget her infant, or be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even if she should forget, I will never forget you. See? Upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you" (Is 49:15-16).
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