Isa 49, 1-6 The LORD called me from birth

(Isa 49, 1-6) The LORD called me from birth

[1] Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name. [2] He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. [3] You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. [4] Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the LORD, my recompense is with my God. [5] For now the LORD has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the LORD, and my God is now my strength! [6] It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

(CCC 713) The Messiah's characteristics are revealed above all in the "Servant songs" (Cf. Isa 42:1-9; Mt 12:18-21; Jn 1:32-34; then cf. Isa 49:1-6; Mt 3:17; Lk 2:32; finally cf. Isa 50:4-10 and Isa 52:13-53:12). These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus' Passion and show how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the many: not as an outsider, but by embracing our "form as slave" (Phil 2:7). Taking our death upon himself, he can communicate to us his own Spirit of life.

Isa 45, 22-24 Turn to me and be safe

(Isa 45, 22-24) Turn to me and be safe

[22] Turn to me and be safe, all you ends of the earth, for I am God; there is no other! [23] By myself I swear, uttering my just decree and my unalterable word: To me every knee shall bend; by me every tongue shall swear, [24] Saying, "Only in the LORD are just deeds and power. Before him in shame shall come all who vent their anger against him.

(CCC 201) To Israel, his chosen, God revealed himself as the only One: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Dt 6:45). Through the prophets, God calls Israel and all nations to turn to him, the one and only God: "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other…. To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 'Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength'" (Isa 45:22-24; cf. Phil 2:10-11).

Isa 45, 15 Truly with you God is hidden

(Isa 45, 15) Truly with you God is hidden

[15] Truly with you God is hidden, the God of Israel, the savior!

(CCC 206) In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men (Cf. Isa 45:15; Judg 13:18).

Isa 45, 5-8 I am the LORD and there is no other

(Isa 45, 5-8) I am the LORD and there is no other

[5] I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not, [6] so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun men may know that there is none besides me. I am the LORD, there is no other; [7] I form the light, and create the darkness, I make well-being and create woe; I, the LORD, do all these things. [8] Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth open and salvation bud forth; let justice also spring up! I, the LORD, have created this.

(CCC 2795) The symbol of the heavens refers us back to the mystery of the covenant we are living when we pray to our Father. He is in heaven, his dwelling place; the Father's house is our homeland. Sin has exiled us from the land of the covenant (Cf. Gen 3), but conversion of heart enables us to return to the Father, to heaven (Jer 3:19-4:1a; Lk 15:18, 21). Jn Christ, then, heaven and earth are reconciled (Cf. Isa 45:8; Ps 85:12), for the Son alone "descended from heaven" and causes us to ascend there with him, by his Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension (Jn 3:13; 12:32; 14 2-3; 16:28; 20:17; Eph 4:9-10; Heb 1:3; 2:13). (CCC 2796) When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is professing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in God" (Eph 2:6; Col 3:3); yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling" (2 Cor 5:2; cf. Phil 3:20; Heb 13:14). [Christians] are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their lives on earth, but are citizens of heaven (Ad Diognetum 5: PG 2, 1173).

Isa 44, 24 I am the LORD, who made all things

(Isa 44, 24) I am the LORD, who made all things

[24] Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, who formed you from the womb: I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens; when I spread out the earth, who was with me?

(CCC 288) Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love (Cf. Gen 15:5; Jer 33:19-26). And so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigour in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People (Cf. Isa 44:24; Ps 104; Prov 8:22-31).

Isa 44, 18-20 Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?

(Isa 44, 18-20) Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?

[18] The idols have neither knowledge nor reason; their eyes are coated so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. [19] Yet he does not reflect, nor have the intelligence and sense to say, "Half of the wood I burned in the fire, and on its embers I baked bread and roasted meat which I ate. Shall I then make an abomination out of the rest, or worship a block of wood?" [20] He is chasing ashes-a thing that cannot save itself when the flame consumes it; yet he does not say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?"

(CCC 2113) Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Mt 6:24). Many martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast" (Cf. Rev 13-14) refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God (Cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 5:5).

Isa 44, 9-10 Idol makers all amount to nothing

(Isa 44, 9-10) Idol makers all amount to nothing

[9] Idol makers all amount to nothing, and their precious works are of no avail, as they themselves give witness. To their shame, they neither see nor know anything; and they are more deaf than men are. [10] Indeed, all the associates of anyone who forms a god, or casts an idol to no purpose, will be put to shame;

(CCC 2112) The first commandment condemns polytheism. It requires man neither to believe in, nor to venerate, other divinities than the one true God. Scripture constantly recalls this rejection of "idols, (of) silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see." These empty idols make their worshippers empty: "Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them" (Ps 115:4-5, 8; cf. Isa 44:9-20; Jer 10:1-16; Dan 14:1-30; Bar 6; Wis 13: 1- 15:19). God, however, is the "living God" (Josh 3:10; Ps 42:3; etc.) who gives life and intervenes in history.