The Readings and the Gospel today center on God and the incomprenensible quality of His Mercy.
The First Reading is from Isaiah 53: 6-9 where he exclaims that God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways above our ways. We know very little about Isaiah except that he was from the tribe of Judah, or royal stock and that he lived in Jerusalem. He was also married and had two sons. To distinguish him from others so named, he was called Alsaiah, son of Amos, a man of God. Sometimes, the Book of Isaiah is referred to as a "Book of Comfort" in that he assures that man seeks God Who is beyond comprehension, yet still finds Him; God is transcendant, yet near enough to help man; God is exalted, yet is required of man to worship and follow His ways.
The Second Reading is from Paul's Letter to the Philippinans 1:20; 24-27.
Phillipi is a city north of the Aegean Sea and was named after Philipp of Macedonia who was the father of Alexander,The Great. St. Paul founded the first Christian Church in Europe here around the year 51. He lived there for some years and had an affectionate relationship with the people. They loved him as much as he loved them. When Paul was imprisoned in Rome, the Philippians provided him financial help and even sent Epaphroditus to stay and help Paul. When Epaphroditus became seriously ill, Paul sent him back to Philippi with this letter around AD 61-63.
"....for me life is Christ and death is gain" in the sense that St. Paul preferred to die so as to be able to live with Christ as he envisioned. But he knew that it was necessary tfor him to live for the benefit of the faithful since their increase of the knowledge of Christ through his preaching, they will become deeply grounded in their faith and such will please the Lord.
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