WEBVTT 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:03.700 Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:05.740 taking this journey together to read the Bible 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:09.080 in a year. Today's reading is from the book of 00:00:09.080 --> 00:00:14.759 Isaiah, chapters 49 through 51. Chapter 49 Listen, 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.760 O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples, 00:00:17.940 --> 00:00:20.780 from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb, 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.859 from the matrix of my mother. He has made mention 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:27.160 of my name, and he has made my mouth like a sharp 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:30.239 sword. In the shadow of his hand He has hidden 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:33.840 me and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.539 he has hidden me. And he said to me, You are 00:00:36.539 --> 00:00:39.299 my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:43.219 Then I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:46.500 my strength for nothing and in vain. Yet surely 00:00:46.500 --> 00:00:49.579 my just reward is with the Lord, and my work 00:00:49.579 --> 00:00:53.179 with my God. And now the Lord says, Who formed 00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:55.880 me from the womb to be his servant, to bring 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:58.700 Jacob back to him, so that Israel is gathered 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:01.350 to him? For I shall be glorious in the eyes of 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:04.569 the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, 00:01:04.689 --> 00:01:07.450 he says, It is too small a thing that you should 00:01:07.450 --> 00:01:09.930 be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, 00:01:10.090 --> 00:01:12.590 and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. 00:01:12.870 --> 00:01:16.150 I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, 00:01:16.230 --> 00:01:18.950 that you should be my salvation to the ends of 00:01:18.950 --> 00:01:21.689 the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of 00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:25.950 Israel, their Holy One, to him whom man despises, 00:01:26.109 --> 00:01:29.769 to him whom the nation abhors. to the servant 00:01:29.769 --> 00:01:34.269 of rulers kings shall see and arise princes also 00:01:34.269 --> 00:01:36.810 shall worship because of the lord who is faithful 00:01:36.810 --> 00:01:39.750 the holy one of israel and he has chosen you 00:01:39.750 --> 00:01:43.549 thus says the lord in an acceptable time i have 00:01:43.549 --> 00:01:46.209 heard you and in the day of salvation i have 00:01:46.209 --> 00:01:49.150 helped you i will preserve you and give you as 00:01:49.150 --> 00:01:51.430 a covenant to the people to restore the earth 00:01:51.900 --> 00:01:54.340 to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages, 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:57.459 that you may say to the prisoners, Go forth, 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.159 to those who are in darkness, show yourselves. 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.120 They shall feed along the roads, and their pastures 00:02:04.120 --> 00:02:06.980 shall be on all desolate heights. They shall 00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:10.159 neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:13.520 shall strike them, for he who has mercy on them 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.599 will lead them. Even by the springs of water 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:20.099 he will guide them. I will make each of my mountains 00:02:20.539 --> 00:02:24.620 And my highways shall be elevated. Surely these 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:28.240 shall come from afar. Look, those from the north 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:31.680 and the west, and these from the land of Sinim. 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:35.599 Sing, O heavens, be joyful, O earth, and break 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.319 out in singing, O mountains, for the Lord has 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:40.960 comforted his people and will have mercy on his 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:44.599 afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.219 me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:50.120 forget her nursing child, and not have compassion 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:53.259 on a son of her womb? Surely they may forget, 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:56.620 but I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed 00:02:56.620 --> 00:02:59.199 you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:02.560 continually before me. Your sons shall make haste, 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.300 your destroyers and those who laid you waste 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:08.719 shall go away from you. Lift up your eyes, look 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:11.780 around and see. All these gather together and 00:03:11.780 --> 00:03:15.080 come to you, as I live, says the Lord. you shall 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.159 surely clothe yourselves with them all as an 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:21.120 ornament and bind them on you as a bride does 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:24.400 for your waste and desolate places and the land 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:27.080 of your destruction will even now be too small 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:29.479 for the inhabitants and those who swallowed you 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:32.780 up will be far away the children you will have 00:03:32.780 --> 00:03:35.939 after you have lost the others will say again 00:03:35.939 --> 00:03:39.000 in your ears the place is too small for me give 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:41.819 me a place where i may dwell Then you will say 00:03:41.819 --> 00:03:44.479 in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:47.319 since I have lost my children and am desolate, 00:03:47.500 --> 00:03:51.439 a captive and wandering to and fro? And who has 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:54.939 brought these up? There I was, left alone, but 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:58.020 these, where were they? Thus says the Lord God, 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.360 Behold, I will lift my hand in an oath to the 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:04.419 nations, and set up my standard for the peoples. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:07.060 They shall bring your sons in their arms, and 00:04:07.060 --> 00:04:09.139 your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. 00:04:09.710 --> 00:04:12.409 Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their 00:04:12.409 --> 00:04:15.050 queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down 00:04:15.050 --> 00:04:17.870 to you with their faces to the earth, and lick 00:04:17.870 --> 00:04:20.449 up the dust of your feet. Then you will know 00:04:20.449 --> 00:04:23.009 that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:26.410 who wait for me. Shall the prey be taken from 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:28.870 the mighty, or the captives of the righteous 00:04:28.870 --> 00:04:32.629 be delivered? But thus says the Lord, Even the 00:04:32.629 --> 00:04:34.910 captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and 00:04:34.910 --> 00:05:01.250 the prey of the terrible Chapter 50 Thus says 00:05:01.250 --> 00:05:04.170 the Lord, Where is the certificate of your mother's 00:05:04.170 --> 00:05:07.509 divorce? whom I have put away? Or which of my 00:05:07.509 --> 00:05:10.689 creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For 00:05:10.689 --> 00:05:13.550 your iniquities you have sold yourselves, and 00:05:13.550 --> 00:05:15.670 for your transgressions your mother has been 00:05:15.670 --> 00:05:19.750 put away. Why when I came was there no man? Why 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:22.949 when I called was there none to answer? Is my 00:05:22.949 --> 00:05:25.170 hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? 00:05:25.389 --> 00:05:28.930 Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed, with my 00:05:28.930 --> 00:05:32.009 rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a 00:05:32.009 --> 00:05:34.649 wilderness. Their fish stink because there is 00:05:34.649 --> 00:05:37.610 no water, and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens 00:05:37.610 --> 00:05:40.629 with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. 00:05:41.029 --> 00:05:44.050 The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, 00:05:44.230 --> 00:05:47.509 that I should know how to speak. A word in season 00:05:47.509 --> 00:05:51.009 to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by 00:05:51.009 --> 00:05:54.430 morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. 00:05:54.649 --> 00:05:57.430 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not 00:05:57.430 --> 00:06:00.839 rebellious, nor did I turn away. I give my back 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:03.399 to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:06.500 who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:09.500 face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:12.199 will help me, therefore I will not be disgraced. 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:15.779 Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:18.759 I know that I will not be ashamed. He is near, 00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:22.600 who justifies me, who will contend with me. Let 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:26.399 us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.240 come near me. Surely the Lord God will help me. 00:06:29.660 --> 00:06:33.240 who is he who will condemn me indeed they will 00:06:33.240 --> 00:06:36.660 all grow old like a garment the moth will eat 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:40.819 them up who among you fears the lord who obeys 00:06:40.819 --> 00:06:43.980 the voice of his servant who walks in darkness 00:06:43.980 --> 00:06:46.779 and has no light let him trust in the name of 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:50.939 the lord and rely upon his god look all you who 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:53.939 kindle a fire who encircle yourselves with sparks 00:06:53.939 --> 00:06:56.860 walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks 00:06:56.860 --> 00:07:00.339 you have kindled this you shall have from my 00:07:00.339 --> 00:07:06.279 hand you shall lie down in torment chapter 51 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:09.920 listen to me you who follow after righteousness 00:07:09.920 --> 00:07:13.620 you who seek the lord look to the rock from which 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:16.639 you were hewn and to the hole of the pit from 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.139 which you were dug look to abraham your father 00:07:19.139 --> 00:07:22.139 and to sarah who bore you for i called him alone 00:07:22.139 --> 00:07:24.879 and blessed him and increased him for the lord 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:27.939 will comfort zion He will comfort all her waste 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:30.600 places. He will make her wilderness like Eden, 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.040 and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy 00:07:34.040 --> 00:07:36.459 and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:39.540 and the voice of melody. Listen to me, my people, 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:42.579 and give ear to me, O my nation. For law will 00:07:42.579 --> 00:07:45.300 proceed from me, and I will make my justice rest 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:48.959 as a light of the peoples. My righteousness is 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:52.439 near, my salvation has gone forth, and my arms 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:55.459 will judge the peoples. The coastlands will wait 00:07:55.459 --> 00:07:59.319 upon me. And on my arm they will trust. Lift 00:07:59.319 --> 00:08:01.519 up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:04.259 earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away 00:08:04.259 --> 00:08:06.500 like smoke, and the earth will grow old like 00:08:06.500 --> 00:08:09.399 a garment. And those who dwell in it will die 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.339 in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.279 and my righteousness will not be abolished. Listen 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:19.319 to me, you who know righteousness, you people 00:08:19.319 --> 00:08:22.649 in whose heart is my law. Do not fear the reproach 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:25.870 of men, nor be afraid of their insults. For the 00:08:25.870 --> 00:08:28.129 moth will eat them up like a garment, and the 00:08:28.129 --> 00:08:31.089 worm will eat them like wool. But my righteousness 00:08:31.089 --> 00:08:34.129 will be forever, and my salvation from generation 00:08:34.129 --> 00:08:38.350 to generation. Awake, awake, put on strength, 00:08:38.610 --> 00:08:42.049 O arm of the Lord. Awake as in the ancient days, 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:45.690 in the generations of old. Are you not the arm? 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:48.679 that cut Rahab apart and wounded the serpent? 00:08:49.019 --> 00:08:51.840 Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the 00:08:51.840 --> 00:08:54.299 waters of the great deep, that made the depth 00:08:54.299 --> 00:08:57.659 of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross over? 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:01.240 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return and 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.940 come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:06.879 on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness. 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.480 Sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I, even I, 00:09:11.679 --> 00:09:14.970 am he who comforts you. Who are you that you 00:09:14.970 --> 00:09:17.990 should be afraid of a man who will die, and of 00:09:17.990 --> 00:09:20.570 the son of a man who will be made like grass? 00:09:21.029 --> 00:09:23.990 And you forget the Lord your Maker, who stretched 00:09:23.990 --> 00:09:26.389 out the heavens and laid the foundations of the 00:09:26.389 --> 00:09:29.210 earth. You have feared continually every day 00:09:29.210 --> 00:09:31.769 because of the fury of the oppressor when he 00:09:31.769 --> 00:09:34.990 has prepared to destroy. And where is the fury 00:09:34.990 --> 00:09:38.330 of the oppressor? The captive exile hastens that 00:09:38.330 --> 00:09:40.830 he may be loosed, that he should not die in the 00:09:40.830 --> 00:09:43.980 pit, and that his bread should not fail. but 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:46.840 i am the lord your god who divided the sea whose 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:50.779 waves roared the lord of hosts is his name and 00:09:50.779 --> 00:09:53.639 i have put my words in your mouth i have covered 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:56.440 you with the shadow of my hand that i may plant 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:59.000 the heavens lay the foundations of the earth 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:02.779 and say to zion you are my people awake awake 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:06.379 stand up o jerusalem you who have drunk at the 00:10:06.379 --> 00:10:09.129 hand of the lord the cup of his fury You have 00:10:09.129 --> 00:10:11.789 drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and drained 00:10:11.789 --> 00:10:15.029 it out. There is no one to guide her among all 00:10:15.029 --> 00:10:17.809 the sons she has brought forth, nor is there 00:10:17.809 --> 00:10:20.289 any who takes her by the hand among all the sons 00:10:20.289 --> 00:10:23.350 she has brought up. These two things have come 00:10:23.350 --> 00:10:26.870 to you. Who will be sorry for you? Desolation 00:10:26.870 --> 00:10:30.330 and destruction, famine and sword. By whom will 00:10:30.330 --> 00:10:33.629 I comfort you? Your sons have fainted. They lie 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:36.350 at the head of all the streets like an antelope 00:10:36.350 --> 00:10:39.059 in a net. They are full of the fury of the Lord, 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:42.600 the rebuke of your God. Therefore, please hear 00:10:42.600 --> 00:10:45.659 this, you afflicted, and drunk, but not with 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:49.019 wine. Thus says your Lord, the Lord and your 00:10:49.019 --> 00:10:52.460 God, who pleads the cause of his people. See, 00:10:52.659 --> 00:10:55.259 I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, 00:10:55.539 --> 00:10:58.399 the dregs of the cup of my fury. You shall no 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.299 longer drink it, but I will put it into the hand 00:11:01.299 --> 00:11:03.740 of those who afflict you, who have said to you, 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:07.259 Lie down, that we may walk over you. and you 00:11:07.259 --> 00:11:10.000 have laid your body like the ground and as the 00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:18.679 street for those who walk over. I hope you enjoyed 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:21.000 today's reading as much as I did, and I look 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.000 forward to seeing you again tomorrow to continue 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.179 on our journey. God bless you and have a great 00:11:25.179 --> 00:11:25.419 day.