Really Hot Lips

February 11, 2019

From today’s reading…

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’

‘Here I am,’ I said; ‘send me!’”

A few verses before this Isaiah was afraid. He thought he would die because he had seen “the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne…” while being unclean, impure.

But one of the seraphim “stationed above” helped cleanse his mouth with a hot ember and reassured him,

See, now that this has touched your lips,

your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”

Isaiah had the faith, the courage, the wisdom to know that anything good is worth any amount of suffering. In fact, because of and through his suffering he became empowered and emboldened to go forth spreading the word of God.

As soon as we read this we move to Psalm 138 where we reply with,

In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.”

Isn’t that exactly what Isaiah did in today’s first reading?

You and I are surrounded by those same angels.

We are called to withstand and draw courage from our own suffering. 

You know you are on the right path if it is hard and requires your focus and effort because the tougher the journey, the greater the prize.

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.