Homily for Tuesday
15th Week of Ordinary
Time
Memorial of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel
Is 7: 1-9
July 16, 2024
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.
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Isaiah meets Ahaz
by Benn Matthew, https://medium.com/@benn29
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by Benn Matthew, https://medium.com/@benn29
Isaiah said to Ahaz, “Take care you remain tranquil and do not fear” (Is 7: 4). Ahaz, king of Judah, faced an ungodly alliance of his Israelite cousins in the northern kingdom and the Gentile Arameans (Syrians). To defend Jerusalem, Ahaz was about to invoke help from Assyria, effectively making Judah a vassal of that brutal pagan empire.
Isaiah
tried to dissuade Ahaz, urging him to turn to God rather than the ruthless
power of Assyria. In this context Isaiah
invited the king to ask for a sign from God in the verses immediately after
today’s passage. When Ahaz stubbornly
demurred, the prophet gave him a sign anyway, that the young woman (the literal
meaning of the Hebrew almah) would conceive and bear a son (7:14).
Ahaz
lacked faith in God’s plans for Judah and for David’s dynasty, and in God’s
prophet, as much as Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum lacked faith in Christ’s
works and message (Matt 11:20-24). God’s
word in Christ and his activity in the virgin mother of Jesus invite us to have
faith: faith that “God upholds his city
forever” (responsory). Each of us is a
city of God, a “holy mountain, fairest of heights,” (Ps 48:2-3), a joy to our
Lord Jesus, precious to him. He
fortifies us with the maternal protection of Mary (collect) so that we may be
kept safe from the conspiracies of Satan and his earthly allies. “Take care and remain tranquil and do not
fear,” for God is with us (cf. Is 7:14).
May
we stand firm (cf. Is 7:9) with Christ and Mother Mary in keeping faith,
resisting sin, and loving our brothers and sisters.
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