Isaiah — Chapter 40

Consolamini, consolamini, popule meus, dicit Deus vester

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. The double imperative (consolamini twice) signals urgency, earnestness, and the fullness of consolation — not partial but complete. God addresses not 'the people' in third person but 'my people' in direct possession: even in exile they remain His. 'Your God' not merely 'the God' — He is their personal God by covenant. Lapide: this double consolation refers (1) to John the Baptist consoling Israel with the nearness of the Messiah; (2) to Christ consoling his disciples ('I will not leave you orphans,' Jn 14:18); (3) to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete (= Consoler), poured out at Pentecost. Applied to the ministry of preaching: consolation is the first duty of the herald of the Gospel (against harsh, terrifying preaching that drives souls away).

Vox clamantis in deserto: Parate viam Domini

A voice crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord — all four Evangelists apply this to John the Baptist (Mt 3:3, Mk 1:3, Lk 3:4, Jn 1:23). Lapide: the fourfold Gospel application makes this the most certainly Christological verse in Isaiah. 'The desert' = Judaea's desert (where John preached), and spiritually the desert of human hearts emptied of God. 'Prepare the way' = straighten the crooked (doctrinal errors), fill the valleys (humble the proud), bring low the mountains (destroy false confidence in Pharisaic observance). 'The glory of the Lord shall be revealed' (v.5) = the Incarnation is the supreme revelation of God's glory. 'All flesh together shall see it' = the universality of the Gospel, to be preached to all nations.

Vox dicentis: Clama. Et dixi: Quid clamabo? Omnis caro faenum

A voice saying: Cry. And I said: What shall I cry? All flesh is grass — the contrast between human frailty and divine permanence. 'Grass' = beautiful but brief. 'The flower of the field' = more beautiful than grass but equally transient. Applied to human glory: 'Surely the people is grass' — nations, empires, civilizations all wither and pass. 'But the word of our God shall stand forever' (v.8) — Peter applies this (1 Pet 1:24-25) to the Gospel: the good news is the abiding word of God that outlasts all human glory. Lapide: the contrast is not pessimistic but liberating — precisely because all human glory is grass, we should not cling to it but seek the permanent word of God.

Super montem excelsum ascende tu qui evangelizas Sion

Go up on a high mountain, O herald of Zion — the first use of 'evangelizo' (to preach the good news) in Isaiah. The herald on the mountain who cries 'Behold your God!' = (1) John the Baptist; (2) Isaiah himself, whose elevated prophetic vision allows him to announce from afar the good news of redemption; (3) the Church's preachers on the 'mountain' of the pulpit, crying to the world 'Behold your God!' 'He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs in his arms' (v.11) = Christ the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-16).

Nonne scis, aut non audisti? Deus sempiternus Dominus

Do you not know, have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. The great confession of divine omnipotence and eternity over against the wearied spirit of exile. Lapide: the two modes of knowing God — rational knowledge from creation ('do you not know?') and revealed knowledge from Scripture and tradition ('have you not heard?') — together constitute the fullness of theological knowledge. 'He gives power to the faint' (v.29) = the theology of grace: God infuses supernatural strength precisely where human strength is exhausted.

Qui autem sperant in Domino mutabunt fortitudinem

They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles — the great promise of contemplative strength. Lapide: 'wait for the Lord' (Hebrew qavah = to hope with tension, like a stretched rope) = the virtue of hope actively exercised, not passive resignation. The eagle's wings = the wings of contemplation (Bernard, Augustine: the two wings are knowledge of God and knowledge of self). The eagle renews its youth by flying toward the sun and then plunging into a spring — so the soul renews its strength by contemplation of God and penance. Applied to missionaries: they who pray deeply can run without weariness in God's service.