March 24, 2024
The Prophet Isaiah reveals the Suffering Servant, a prophecy that foretells Jesus. What light does this shine on God speaking today? This is relevant to the experience of our Mission of Divine Mercy.
This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable. It has not been verified by the author.
“The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning, he opens my ears that I may hear, and I have not rebelled, have not turned back, I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who plucked my beard, my face, I did not shield from buffets and spitting, the Lord God is my help. Therefore, I am not disgraced. I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” I believe that we’re living right now, right in these very weeks that we’re living, historic, great historic events. And as I said, I think even our little mission has a part in God’s plan and God’s great plan for His reconquest. So today on this, it’s not by its God’s providence that permits that the first Mass at Tepeyac since we announced since we published, made public a little bit about God’s plans for this Tepeyac is taking place, right now today, on this Palm Sunday as we enter Holy Week of 2024. And so I wanted to focus with you on this first reading, we just heard from Isaiah. And it’s one of these prophecies about what is called the suffering servant. And who is this talking about? Of course, it’s talking above all about Jesus who lives this prophecy perfectly. But it’s also talking about each one of us, because each one of us is called to follow Him. And I think it has a special significance for our little Mission of Divine Mercy. It wasn’t that the Mission of Divine Mercy sat around and thinking, what can we do? Well, why don’t we talk about prophecy a bunch? That’s an interesting thing. Nobody else is doing that. Why don’t we do that? It wasn’t that at all. It was that God made it very clear that He wanted to help that for us to help the Church, renew its understanding of the prophetic grace. And so you know, I think all of us, you’re probably all aware that we’ve been sharing messages, which we believe are from the Lord. Some people think their messages from me. No I’m not receiving those messages and Sister Amapola is the one receiving those but they’re not coming from her either. They’re coming from the Lord. And what’s important, is not the messenger, or the person reading the messages. But what’s important is the person who is the source of those messages from the Lord. Because the Lord has raised up a lot of different people. And He’s doing it right now in our world. One thing that’s been very striking for us is so many different people are contacting us and saying the Lord’s been saying the very same thing to us, or even to me personally. And so we knew right away when we heard that, that was from the Lord. There’s a passage which you might not have paid much attention to, in the Gospel, where Jesus says, not today’s gospel, but in St. Matthew’s gospel, he says, “He who receives a prophet, because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.” So obviously, if Jesus is saying that, that must mean that we are going to have the opportunity of receiving a prophet, right? Because before I got involved in this, I thought of prophets, it’s just something that happened about, you know, several 1000 years ago in the Old Testament, but Jesus has clearly said in the Gospel, that we will have the opportunity to receive prophets. So the Mission of Divine Mercy is not a “non-prophet” organization, right? We have prophets, we believe in prophet, PROPHET. And notice what he says, he says he receives a prophet, because he is a prophet. That is not just because he’s a normal person, but precisely because of the fact that the person is a prophet. And one thing that’s not so clear that what Jesus says, when he says will receive the prophet’s reward. That’s true, but why will they receive the prophet’s reward? Because they will share in the suffering of the prophets. What is Jesus saying? In the Gospel, he says, “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who are before you.” That is, that’s the common situation of the prophets. It’s being persecuted, as he said, uttering all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. So, if you accept a prophet and the prophets message, you’re going to share in the trials of prophets. And that’s what we’re experiencing in our little Mission of Divine Mercy. But also you will receive forever a prophet’s reward, eternal reward. So let’s look at this passage from Isaiah. “The Lord has given me a well-trained tongue.” Notice what he’s saying, he doesn’t just say I studied, and I learned about the stuff, and I became very learned, learned. And he said, The Lord has given me. So this is coming from the Lord, the prophets message is coming, not from his own intelligence, his own abilities, or the studies or the university he went to, it’s coming from the Lord, from the Holy Spirit. So that’s key. For instance, what we’re saying about the Church and it was very hard to say what the Lord told us to say about the Pope, about Bergoglio. But it wasn’t something that we had come to, wasn’t a conclusion we came to by doing a bunch of studies and researching and so forth. There’s a lot of people doing that. And that’s helpful. But it was because we strongly believe that the Lord Himself was telling us, so it’s not something that comes from a human conclusion. But it comes from the Lord. And that’s because the Lord sees much more clearly than we do, evil often does its best to hide itself, to disguise itself. And that’s why the Lord often had sent prophets to warn the people. Like to Ezekial, he said, I have made you a watchman, you are called, if you see it danger, you are called to cry out and notify the people. And if you don’t do that, that is when he says, I have put you on the watchtower to see, that is I’ve made you, I’ve given you a grace to see not just by human abilities, but by a higher ability. But he says if you do not warn the people of the danger, then the responsibility is on you. So if we had kept silent, which would have been a lot easier, we would have been responsible for not sharing what the Lord has asked us to share. And what does the Lord say, I’ve given you a well-trained tongue, what’s the tongue for, for a prophet, it’s to say. The prophet is not called to keep quiet about what the Lord wants him to say. The prophet needs to say what the Lord is asking him to say. Then Isaiah goes on, “that I might know how to speak.” And listen to what he says, “that I might know how to speak to the weary, a word that will rouse them.” That is, he is not speaking words of condemnation, or even warning. He’s called also, and this an aspect we often forget, that the prophet is often also called to give these words of encouragement and hope to His people. A lot of people, I was just talking to someone yesterday, who I think they’re here today, who told me how much the messages have given them great hope. We need hope so badly. So many people are discouraged. So many people are losing hope. And these messages are a warning for those who are enemies of God or who are not listening to Him. But for God’s people, they are messages of great divine unconquerable hope and encouragement. And then Isaiah says, “morning after morning, he opens my ear that I may hear.” So that’s key. The prophet is not giving his own opinions. The prophet is called to listen. To listen to who? Not to listen to all the opinions of the world, but to listen to God. All the problems that our world has seen come from the fact that we’re not listening to God. Our world is trying to shut out God and satan is trying to shut out God. And what the prophet needs to do is listen first of all to God. So the prophet needs humility. He needs faith, obedience, docility, to not give human opinions, but what God wants. One of the things the Lord says over and over, is He says, Look, to Me, look only at Me. Because I’ll tell you, if I look at what the world is saying, if I look at what the authorities are saying, I’ll be too afraid to speak out. I’ll just fail. I just gotta shut up. I have to keep my eyes on God. And it’s when I keep my eyes on God, that that’s what gives me the encouragement to keep on going. Isaiah says, “and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I have not rebelled, I have not turned back the path of the Lord.” You know, it’s very difficult. And there’s so many things tempting us to give up and to turn back. Notice that Isaiah doesn’t say I have not fallen. Because we all fall sometimes. The path is heavy. Even our Lord Jesus, we have right here with us today, a little relic of the very true cross, that cross was so heavy, that our Lord fell multiple times. Our Lord Jesus Christ fell multiple times under this heavy cross, to help us not be discouraged when we fall again and again and again. But to get up and keep on going. “I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks, to those who pulled out the beard, I hid not my face, from shame and spitting.” And so of course, this is speaking, first of all of our Lord, “I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard I hid not my face, from shame and spitting.” And that has a literal meaning with our Lord. It also has a figurative meaning that anyone who is faithful to the Lord will experience. I was talking to a person recently who had had great charisms, great gifts from the Lord, and but had that so much persecution from Church authorities, and even one she said, actually spit on her. So we have to be ready, and not be surprised if there is ridicule. For those who are trying to follow the Lord’s path. He tells us that’s actually a sign, a good sign. And that Isaiah in the last verses in this reading is “the Lord God is my help. Therefore, I am not disgraced. I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” But think of that. That didn’t seem to come true for Jesus. It seemed like on the contrary, He was disgraced. He was condemned and crucified. So it would have seemed like maybe that that wasn’t coming true. But what the Lord did was not remove him from all the ridicule of his enemies, for a moment that he gave him. It has strengthened him. In his divine strength, he was faithful through that. And that momentary disgrace led to His eternal glory. And so also, we sometimes have to set our face like flint, receiving the mockery, the ridicule, the accusations against us. And we’re experiencing a lot now here at the Mission of Divine Mercy, but trusting that the Lord God is my help, that He is bringing us through this. And so today with our Blessed Mother, let us be open to listening to what the Lord is saying, today. You’re it’s such a grace. I often hear people say, “I wish the Lord would just tell me what he wants.” Right? Have you ever thought that I wish that He were just telling me what He wants? But then what happens when He does tell us what He wants? Oh, no. And so that’s what prophecy is. It’s not the God doesn’t say today what He wants us to do in 100 years. He’s telling us today what he wants for a light for today. And I know that’s not easy to believe. Especially because our world is so weak in faith and unfortunately, even our Church has become so weak in faith, in supernatural faith. But God is acting and God is speaking today. He knows the suffering of His people. He knows the suffering of His Church, and He wants to help. He wants to help. He wants to speak. He wants to act. But what He asked us, above all is faith, faith so that God can act. Jesus we trust in you. Amen
KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Isaiah 50:4-7