Isaiah — Chapter 49

Audite insulae et attendite populi de longe

Listen, O coastlands, and hearken, O peoples from afar — the Servant addresses the whole world, not Israel alone. The universality of the second Servant Song distinguishes it from the first: the mission is explicitly global. 'The Lord called me from the womb, from my mother's body he named my name' (v.1b) = Lapide applies this to Christ, called and consecrated to his mission from the moment of His conception (the hypostatic union). Applied secondarily to Paul (Gal 1:15-16: 'He who set me apart from my mother's womb called me through his grace').

Dedi te in lucem gentium, ut sis salus mea usque ad extremum terrae

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. The apex of the Servant's vocation — transcending Israel to embrace all humanity. Cited by Paul (Acts 13:47) as his apostolic mandate. Lapide: Christ is light, salvation, and the end of history ('to the ends of the earth'); the Church as the whole Christ continues to carry this light to every people and every age. Applied to the missionary vocation: every baptized Christian participates in this light-to-the-nations calling through witness.

Numquid oblivisci potest mulier infantem suum ut non misereatur filio uteri sui?

Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. The supreme text on God's tender maternal love. Lapide: God's love surpasses even the strongest human bond — maternal love for a nursing infant. 'Even these may forget' = an almost unthinkable hypothetical, yet possible; divine love is impossible to forget or abandon. 'I have graven you on the palms of my hands' (v.16) = the wounds of the Passion: Christ carries the marks of our redemption permanently in His glorified body, so that every time He sees His hands, He sees us. Lapide quotes Bernard's meditations on the nail-prints.