From: Isaiah 2:1-5
The Glory of Zion and Peace Among the Nations
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Commentary:
2:1-4:6. This section opens with a new “dispute” (”rib”) in which we find echoes
of the teaching about the “day of the Lord” (2:12; cf. Amos 5:18-20). Previously,
the people were accused of forsaking God (cf. 1:2-3); now we are told why God
has forsaken them (cf. 2:6): it was on account of their arrogance and their idola-
try (cf. 2:6-4:1). However, it is not really the case that God has forsaken his peo-
ple; his “forsaking” them is a way of describing the punishment he inflicts on
them on account of their sins. When the Lord’s sentence is revealed, human
arrogance will be brought low, and the Lord will be exalted (cf. 2:9, 11, 17).
Oracles about the splendor that will be Zion’s on that day introduce (cf. 2:1-5)
and round off (4:2-6) this “dispute”.
2:1-5. Despite the sins of the people and the disastrous situation in Judah that
is described in this first part of the book, from the very start a glimmer of hope
is provided in this vision of messianic and eschatological restoration which
shows that the salvation of the world centers on Zion, “the mountain of the Lord”,
that is, Jerusalem.
All the nations will converge on the holy city, but not to despoil it of its wealth:
they will come in peace to hearken to the word of the Lord and receive instruc-
tion in his law. This note of hope, struck, strategically, at the very start of the
book, and at its end (66:18-24), constitutes one of its most important messa-
ges.
The poem in vv. 2-5 (found also, with slight variations, in Micah 4:1-3) links the
Law with the temple, the spiritual center of Jerusalem after the national recon-
struction that took place when the exiles returned from Babylon.
In contrast with the strife and desolation that sin brings in its wake (cf. 1:2-9),
peace is the outcome of reverence for God and readiness to obey his precepts,
of the practice of virtue and of love of neighbor. The weapons of war become
tools for development and agriculture: “Insofar as men are sinful, the threat of
war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ. But
insofar as men vanquish sin by a union of love, they will vanquish violence as
well and make these words come true: ‘They shall turn their swords into plough-
shares, and their spears into sickles. Nation shall not lift up sword against na-
tion, neither shall they learn war any more’ (Is 2:4)” (”Gaudium Et Spes”, 78).
These words of Isaiah announcing God’s salvific intervention in the fullness of
time will come true with the birth of Christ, who will open up an era of perfect
peace and reconciliation. The Church uses this text in the liturgy of the first Sun-
day in Advent, encouraging us to look forward to the second coming of Christ as
we prepare to recall his first coming at Christmas.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Romans 13:11-14
Love, the Fulfilling of the Law (Continuation)
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Commentary:
11-14. The Church uses this inspired text in the liturgy of Advent to help us pre-
pare for the coming of the Lord. Christ came into the world by his Incarnation; he
also comes to souls through grace; and at the end of time he will come as Judge.
Rising like the sun, he dispelled the darkness when he came into the world, and
he continues to dispel whatever darkness remains in souls the more he obtains
mastery over the hearts of men.
13-14. Souls who have become members of the Church through Baptism are al-
ways in need of conversion to a new life. Sometimes God uses Sacred Scripture
to awaken people from their spiritual lethargy. In fact, he used these particular
words of Scripture to move the heart of St Augustine and have him take the last
step towards casting off the attachments of the flesh. “I felt myself still enslaved
by my iniquities, and therefore did I groan to myself, ‘How long? How long must
I continue saying Tomorrow, tomorrow? Why not now? Why not, at one instant,
make an end of all uncleanness?’ [...] And behold I heard a voice, like that of a
child in the house next door, repeating in a sing-song tone, ‘Take up and read.
Take up and read’ [...]. I rose up [...] and returned to where I had left the book of
the Apostle; I took it quickly into my hand, opened it and read in silence the first
passage on which my eye happened to fall.” Having transcribed the verses we
are now commenting, Augustine continues: “I read no further, nor was there any
need to; for with the end of this sentence, as by a clear and constant light in-
fused into my heart, the darkness of all former doubts was immediately driven
away” (”Confessions”, VII, 12, 28-29).
14. All Christians “put on” Christ in Baptism (cf. Gal 3:27). Starting with this ini-
tial configuration to Christ, they are steadily transformed into him by frequent re-
ception of the sacraments, particularly the sacrament of Penance. “’Induimini
Dominum Iesum Christum.’ ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ says St Paul to the
Romans. It is in the Sacrament of Penance that you and I put on Jesus Christ
and his merits” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 310).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.