Dóchas nua

Chapter 7: A precious pearl

Chapter 8: Standing together

Chapter 9: Light for those in darkness

Thursday 30 October 2014

Chapter 9: Light for those in darkness

9:2 ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.’

pic: emeryjo.wordpress.com

In the cut and thrust of life’s difficult journey there are moments when a light seems to shine. It is eclipsed for much of the time but you sense that it is there on the other side of the cloud. Not knowing beyond the cloud you keep moving forward in trust. And you keep moving and you keep trusting.

#JourneyIsaiah

Chapter 7: A precious pearl

Chapter 8: Standing together

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Chapter 8: Standing together

8:17-18: ‘I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the descendants of Jacob. I will put my trust in him. Here am I, and the children the Lord has given me.’

Pic: andyatfaith.blogspot.ie

The prelude to this saying is another series of menacing warnings and gloomy prognostications. But all is not lost. In situations of terrible stress and when all seems hopeless and the worst may or will happen we can ‘wait for the Lord’ who seems to be playing a game of hide and seek with us – not showing us his face. Even still I will trust in the Lord, my help comes from him. I can say in all honesty ‘here am I’ together with those given to me at this time in my life. In such situations we are given others to stand together.

Chapter 7: A precious pearl

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Chapter 7: A precious pearl

7:14 ‘ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin [young woman] will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel [God with us]’

Hidden in the 7^th chapter of Isaiah towards the beginning of the ‘Emmanuel chapters from 7 to 12) is a little precious gem – for us who read this prophecy as Christians with the light of faith and experience of those who went before us. And if some should doubt or not believe let them be open to the mystery and beauty of these chapters interspersed as they are with warnings and cries for change.

This passage (7:14) is taken up in the Gospel of Saint Matthew and is applied directly to the birth of Jesus Christ. The travails of the people of Israel across the centuries and books and prophecies find their fulfilment in the promise and coming of the One who will save not just the chosen people of Israel but all peoples who turn to the Source of Salvation.

What a gem. What a precious pearl. A pearl of great price. (Matthew 13:44). Later Isaiah will write (45:3):

‘I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.’

‘In man there is a deep so profound, it is hidden even to him in whom it is’. St Augustine (Exposition on the Book of Psalms)