Fear Not 220

Beloved brethren in the Lord, as the evening shadows lengthen and we assemble in the quiet of this sacred hour, let the voice of the prophet Isaiah resound in our hearts: "...be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating..." (Isaiah 65:18). Written amid the return from Babylonian exile, these words addressed a weary people rebuilding ruined walls yet longing for something deeper than temporal restoration. Isaiah foresaw not merely a revived Jerusalem but the dawn of a new creation where former sorrows would vanish like mist before the rising sun. The Early Church Fathers, drawing from the rich well of apostolic tradition, expounded this promise with luminous clarity. St. Jerome, in his commentary on Isaiah, beheld here the perpetual gladness of the saints in the heavenly city, where God fashions all things anew. Likewise, in the Catena Aurea we encounter St. Augustine linking the verse to the resurrection hope, insisting that true rejoicing flows from the eternal creation wrought by Christ, not from fleeting earthly joys. St. John Chrysostom, preaching to his flock in Antioch, urged the faithful to fix their eyes upon this divine work, seeing in it the Church herself as the firstfruits of the new heavens and new earth. Scripture itself weaves this theme across its pages. From the opening of Genesis, where God declares His handiwork good, through the prophetic oracles of renewal, to the Apocalypse where St. John beholds the holy city descending, Isaiah’s vision finds fulfillment in the risen Lord. The Apostle Paul echoes the same truth when he writes that in Christ we become a new creation, the old having passed away. Thus the Fathers teach us that our present trials are but the pangs of birth for a joy that endures forever. In these evening hours, then, let us cast aside every burden and rejoice in what God continues to create within our souls, within His holy Church, and in the world to come. Sorrow shall flee; gladness shall remain. May the promise of Isaiah strengthen us until that day when all is made new. Amen. #FearNot220 #FearNotUNPLUGGED #165of220 #Catholic

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