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From: Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25

Announcement of a New Exodus (Continuation)

(Thus says the Lord), [18] “Remember not the former things, nor consider the
things of old. [19] Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you
not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. [21]
The people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

[22] “Yet you did not call upon me, 0 Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O
Israel! [24b] But you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with
your iniquities.

[25] “I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not
remember your sins.”

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Commentary:

43:14-21. This oracle is part of the doctrinal core of the “Book of Consolation”
(40:1-48:22), where we can see the exodus from Egypt as the prototype of every
instance of liberation brought about by the Lord. Its most direct reference would
be to the return of those exiled in Babylon. The original exodus from Egypt was
quite remarkable and well worth pondering; but this exodus is truly “new”, surpa-
ssing what happened in former times (cf. vv. 18-19). This prophecy is very care-
fully constructed. It first acknowledges God by giving an impressive list of divine
titles, repeated several times: Lord, Redeemer, Holy One of Israel, Creator, King
(vv. 14-15); then comes the announcement of the new exodus based on traditions
to do with the first exodus, without mentioning it specifically (vv. 16-21); it recalls,
with sadness, yet serenity, the people’s infidelities (vv. 22-24); and it ends with
God asserting his forgiveness in the context Of a “rib”, that is, a “legal hearing”
(vv. 25-28).

The prophet’s words are designed to fill the people with hope that they will soon
be able to return home, and also with the energy to undertake the religious resto-
ration of Israel. But they are also a reminder to people at all times that God never
abandons his chosen ones, and a constant encouragement to renew their fervor.
The only proviso is that they must have recourse to the mercy of God and sin-
cerely admit their sins. Thus, we find St Gregory the Great interpreting the “suit”
in v. 26 as describing the examination of conscience that leads to the confession
of sins: “The conscience accuses, reason judges, fear binds, and suffering tor-
tures” (”Moralia in Job”, 25,7, 12-13).

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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: 2 Corinthians 1:18-22

Why He Has Not Visited Corinth (Continuation)

[18] As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. [19]
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus and
Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always: Yes. [20] For all the
promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him,
to the glory of God. [21] But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and
has commissioned us; [22] he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in
our hearts as a guarantee.

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Commentary:

17-20. He calls on God to witness to the sincerity of his actions and to his being
a man of his word. He cannot act otherwise, he explains, because he preaches
Jesus Christ and follows him: and Christ is absolutely faithful and truthful (cf. Jn
14:6) and demanded sincerity in word and in deed (cf. Mt 5:37; Jas 5:12). The
faithfulness of Christ—in whom it is always “Yes” (vv. 19-20)—is the model for all
Christians, both those who dedicate their lives totally and exclusively to God in
celibacy and those who do so through marriage. Referring to this passage, John
Paul II teaches that “just as the Lord Jesus is ‘the faithful witness’ (Rev 3:14), the
‘yes’ of the promises of God (cf. 2 Cor 1:20), so Christian couples are called to
participate truly in the irrevocable indissolubility that binds Christ to the Church,
his bride, loved by him to the end (cf. Jn 13:1)” (”Familiaris Consortio”, 20).

Relying on Christ’s faithfulness the faithful are able to say that “Amen” (”So be
it”), by which they adhere fully to the Apostle’s teachings. From the very begin-
ning of Christianity, the “Amen” was said at the end of the Church’s public prayers
(cf. 1 Cor 14:16).

Silvanus, called Silas in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 15:40), had helped St
Paul to found the Church in Corinth (cf. Acts 18:5).

18. “As surely as God is faithful’: so translated to evoke a form of words used in
taking a oath; literally, “Faithful is God.”

21-22. As in other passages of this letter (cf. 3:3; 13:13), St Paul is here referring
explicitly to the promises made of the Blessed Trinity: it is God (the Father) who
has given us our “commission” (anointed us with grace) establishing us in the
Son, through the gift of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Using three different expressions—”commissioned” (anointed), “put his seal upon
us”, given us his Spirit “as a guarantee”—the Apostle describes the way God acts
in the soul: in Baptism the Christian is spiritually anointed with grace and incorpo-
rated into Christ; he is thereby “sealed”, for he no longer belongs to himself but
has become the property of Christ; and together with grace, he receives the Holy
Spirit as a “guarantee”, a pledge of the gifts he will receive in eternal life. All
those effects of Baptism are reinforced by the sacrament of Confirmation (St Paul
may well have had this sacrament in mind also, when writing these words).

Commenting on this passage St John Chrysostom explains that by this action
the Holy Spirit establishes the Christian as prophet, priest and king: “In olden
times these three types of people received the unction which confirmed them in
their dignity. We Christians have not one of these three dignities but all three
preeminently. For, are we not kings, who shall infallibly inherit a kingdom? Are
we not priests, if we offer our bodies as a sacrifice, instead of mere animal vic-
tims, as the Apostle says: ‘I appeal to you...to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God’ (Rom 12:1)? And are we not constituted
prophets if, thanks to God, secrets have been revealed to us which eye has not
seen nor ear heard?” (”Hom. on 2 Cor.”, 3).

“He has put his seal on us”: the St Pius V Catechism uses these words to ex-
plain the “character” which the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Order
impress on the soul; Paul “not obscurely describes by the word ‘sealed’ a cha-
racter, the property of which is to impress a seal or mark. This character is, as
it were, a distinctive impression stamped on the soul which perpetually inheres
and cannot be blotted out” (II, 1, 30).

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.