Isaiah 66:10-14
The new nation
[12] For thus says the Lord:
“Behold, I will extend prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and you shall suck, you shall be carried upon her hip,
and dandled upon her knees.
[13] As one whom his mother comforts,
so I will comfort you;
you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
[14] You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and it shall be known that the hand of the Lord is with his servants,
and his indignation is against his enemies.
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Commentary:
7-14. This last poem about the exaltation of Zion is built around the metaphor
of motherhood. The opening verses (7-9) are a reflection full of rhetorical ques-
tions about the eschatological city that gives birth to an entire people in a spec-
tacular, miraculous way. She is the new Eve, the mother all the living (cf. Gen
2:23), who gives birth painlessly. This Zion, a thing of wonder, easy for God to
create but impossible for men even to conceive, has been interpreted as a sym-
bol of the Church who bears in her womb and gives birth to the members of the
new people of God – and a symbol, too, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who gave
birth, without the loss of her virginity, to Jesus (cf. Rev 12:5). The end of the po-
em (vv. 10-14) also uses the analogy of Zion as a mother, although at one point,
very boldly, it depicts God as comforting his people like a mother giving suck to
her children (v. 11). As we have seen, the second part of Isaiah is where the at-
tributes of a mother are most often applied to God (cf. 42:14; 45:10; 49:15). “By
calling God ‘Father’, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is
the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the
same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God’s parental tender-
ness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood (cf. Is 66:13; Ps 131:
2), which emphasizes God’s immanence, the intimacy between Creator and
creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents,
who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience
also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of father-
hood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the hu-
man distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God.
He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood (cf. Ps 27:10), although
he is their origin and standard (cf. Eph 3:14; Is 49:15)” (Catechism of the Catho-
lic Church, 239).
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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: Galatians 6:14-18
Conclusion
[17] Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
[18] The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.
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Commentary:
14. Those who had been circumcised—both Gentiles and Jews—used to boast a-
bout bearing on their body the sign of the Old Covenant, circumcision. St. Paul
points out to them that to his mind there is only one ground for boasting—the
Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the New Covenant has been sealed
and the Redemption brought about and which therefore has come to be the sign
of the Christian. This was the core of his preaching—the power and the wisdom
of God (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23-24). The Apostle’s assertion has been echoed by Chris-
tians down the ages and has inspired pages of singular piety. For example, here
is something from an Easter homily (preacher unknown) of the second century:
“When I am overtaken by fear of God, the Cross is my protection; when I stum-
ble, it is my help and my support; when I engage in combat, my prize; when I
conquer, my crown. The Cross is for me a narrow path, a narrow way—Jacob’s
ladder, which angels ascend and descend, at the top of which the Lord is to be
found.”
From the Holy Cross our salvation comes, for it was here that Jesus died for our
sins. St. John Chrysostom, therefore, praises it: “The Cross is the sign of victory
displayed to fend off demons, the sword to use against sin, the sword with which
Christ ran the serpent through; the Cross is the will of the Father, the glory of his
Only Son, the joy of the Holy Spirit, the ornament of the angels, the assurance
of the Church; it is what Paul glories in, it protects the saints and lights up the
whole universe (”De Coemeterio Et De Cruce”, 2).
For his part St. Anselm is so moved that he exclaims: “O Cross, chosen and
designed to do such ineffable good: you are praised and exalted not so much by
the minds and tongues of men, or even angels, as by the works that been done
thanks to you. O Cross, in whom and by whom salvation and life have come to
me, in whom and by whom all good things come to me: God would not have me
glory unless it be in you (cf. Gal. 6:14)” (”Prayers and Meditations”, 4).
In the Cross, therefore, every Christian should be able to find support and strength
for his daily life: “When you see a poor wooden Cross, alone, uncared for, and of
no value...and without its Crucified, don’t forget that that Cross is your Cross: the
Cross of each day, the hidden Cross, without splendor or consolation, the Cross
which is waiting the Crucified it lacks: and that Crucified must be you” (St. J. Es-
criva, “The Way”, 178).
15. The expression “new creation” is full of theological content. It points to the
fact that supernatural grace operates at a much higher level than any mere hu-
man action: just as God in creating the world made everything out of nothing, so
too grace is granted without there being any previous merits. The phrase also in-
dicates that, in regard to salvation, the only thing which matters as far as God is
concerned is grace: just as things exist because they have been created, so
man exists on the supernatural plane because he has been “created again”. Fi-
nally, “new creation” gives us a glimpse into the mystery of grace: thus when
we were originally created we were given existence, and a nature, and certain fa-
culties: in a similar way, on being created anew we are made to share in God’s
nature, we are given a new nature (super-nature) and a whole supernatural biolo-
gy (the infused virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit).
The nature which God gave man through creation was damaged by the sin of
Adam, become thereby an “old creation”, the old man. Our new life or new crea-
tion is in brilliant contrast which the dark background of sin and death caused by
that original fall. “We have been created,” St. Thomas comments, “and we have
received our natural being through Adam; but that creature grew old, and died,
and therefore the Lord, by constituting us in the state of grace, worked a new
creation, ‘that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures’ (Jas. 1:18). And
he adds ‘new’ because we are renewed by him, given a new life; and by the Holy
Spirit also. ‘When thou sendest forth thy Spirit, the are created, and thou renew-
est the face of the earth’ (Ps. 104:30); and by the Cross of Christ [...]. Thus, by
means of the new creation, that is, through faith in Christ and through the love of
God, which has been poured into our hearts, we are renewed and we are united
to Christ” (”Commentary on Gal., ad loc.”).
We find this parallelism between creation and the new creation (re-creation) in a
number of places in the New Testament. The new life which is attained through
union with Christ is called a “new creation” (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17). This new creation
is the new man, who is born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will
of man, but of God (cf. Jn. 1:12-13), man raised up to the supernatural state of
grace, created in Christ (cf. Eph. 2:10, 15) for a life of righteousness and holi-
ness (cf. Roman 6:4; Col. 3:9-10), man, God’s adoptive son and heir (cf. Rom.
8:16), in whom Christ’s own life is definitively manifested (cf. Gal. 2:20).
17. A reference to the sign or brand put on livestock to show which herd it be-
longs to. In ancient times slaves were also branded—to show which family they
belonged to—as were the adherents of some religions. St. Paul alludes to these
customs by declaring that he is metaphorically a servant of Christ.
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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.