Micah 2:1-5; Psalm 9B(10):1-4,7-8,14; Matthew 12:14-21
‘Here is my Servant’ Matthew quotes – from Isaiah 42. In Isaiah 42 we have reached the prophesies of Comfort or Hope – in which Isaiah shows us in outstanding prose and poetry the full glory of God’s promised salvation. Matthew must have been particularly taken by Isaiah 42 as he quotes it no less than three times – at the baptism of Jesus, in todays reading, and at the transfiguration. So we see three times that Jesus is the promised saviour, the Messiah, and we see him as full of the Spirit (baptism), full of the Word of God (listen to him) and as God the Father (transfigured in His glory).
Today is also the optional feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. We are so blessed by the presence amongst us of men and women who have given their lives over to service of God through the Carmelite orders. Let us pray for their vocations.