The season of Advent

Treasures of Our Faith with Deacon Richard Vehige

On Monday of the First Week of Advent our Church invites us to first read and reflect on a passage from the book of the prophet Isaiah (1: 21-27: 2: 1-5) entitled “The judgement and deliverance of Zion. The gathering of the nations”. Our treasure, which follows, is from a pastoral letter by Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop.

St. Charles Borromeo was born at Arona in Lombardy in the year 1538. Although he belonged to the Milanese nobility and was related to the powerful Medici family, Charles desired to devote himself to the Church. Because of his intellectual qualities Charles was entrusted with several important offices connected with the Vatican, and later appointed secretary of state with responsibility for the papal states. At the time Charles was still a layman and a young student. The untimely death of his elder brother brought Charles to a definite decision to be ordained a priest, despite his relatives’ insistence that he marry. Soon after being ordained a priest at age 25, he was made cardinal and bishop of Milan by his uncle, Pope Pius IV. Charles Borromeo was associated with reform. He lived during the time of the Protestant Reformation, and had a hand in the reform of the whole Church during the final years of the Council of Trent. As a true pastor of his flock, he tirelessly promoted Christian life by the reform of his diocese, the convocation of senates, and the promulgation of regulations intended to foster the Church’s mission. He died on November 3, 1584

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.

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.