Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, all you who love her; Rejoice with her in her joy, all you who mourn over her—So that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink (or suck) with delight.
The opening image of The Word today is of an infant child at the breast of its mother—the child is quite contented and satisfied. What does it mean for the modern Catholic to apply?
You start with the context. It is a prophetic call. It beckons to the hearer/reader in the finishing verses of the major prophet book of Isaiah. Note that we quoted of chapter 66: verses 9-10 (in our opening reading). That’s the message coming in the third phase of Isaiah’s prophecies, or late phase, about future hopes. These last lines of Isaiah cry out in hope—one can almost hear the drums and cymbals play a prophetic song to its climatic part and finish. Isaiah 66 speaks of the Coming Messiah in the book, referring back to the vision of a God-hero child with a mother in Isaiah chapter 5 (whom we interpret to be Jesus with Mother Mary), and so Jerusalem will undergo a change due to this Virgin Mother appearing with Child Messiah (Isaiah chapter 7) and He will grow to be the Son of God of Sacrifice (the One mourned in Isaiah chapter 53), and now we are here in today’s Word at Holy Mass, going onto Isaiah’s prophecies of things unfolding and to come about. This trito-Isaiah and its grand finish message (in chapters 56 to 66) is that special addition to the Book of Isaiah. You should know, or perhaps you do, that Isaiah’s prophetic book has its third part and finish written after the Jews get back to the Holy Land, after their terrible exile called the Babylonian Captivity, following after the destruction of Old Jerusalem City and its Temple. Yet when the Jews get back, in those stories told in Ezra and Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, now can Isaiah conclude its message of a Jerusalem people being glad and being loved in her, and even through some tears or mourning, they are yet ending up in a consoling and tender place.
In interpretation, we can see Mary again as the New Jerusalem mother, having been born and raised in the holy city, but now the Mother of Jesus Christ has been given the Messiah to raise, and in His 33rd year she has seen Him raised up in Jerusalem, and ascended, and He has presented the Holy Spirit to come upon the new covenant people in Jerusalem at Pentecost.
God has taken the Mother of The Lord Incarnate and she is given a share in Jesus’ Victory, making her Our Lady of Victory. She’ll be a New Eve who will be our help to paradise, and she’ll be Mother of the Church, Christ’ Body. Jesus appoints her “mother” for us all in His final words of the Cross.
In many ways the mother image of Mary and the mother image of the Church (Christ’ Bride) are intertwined in the Risen Work of Christ Jesus. In another prophesy to finish out the New Testament and whole Bible, Revelation 22:17 says “The Spirit and the Bride Say Come!” It’s the fourth to last verse in the Bible, so it’s a dramatic one of the fulfillment of The Lord Jesus and His works. His Spirit calls us to become faithful children of God now and forever; the Bride says come too. Come up to be in God’s love like a child so pleased to be at its mother’s breast, and so tenderly loved. (So you see how Mary figures in these prophesies today. You see how the Church as “mother” figures in—as Jesus has birthed the Church to be those who are glad in the good news and loved in the gathering and hopeful for God’s everlasting care.) She who loved Jesus even as a Child now is given to love us, the Church.
“Behold, your mother.” John 19:27– Word of Jesus.
What are we to take home from this Word?
It is to confirm in our Catholic faith of how we live out the prophecy for the Church to rejoice that we are this new Jerusalem, the covenant people of Messiah! The prophesy says that we can be glad about it and we can love becoming the Lord’s people. It says “all you who love her rejoice!” The “her” in this verse is the New Jerusalem or The Church of Jesus Christ. Are you glad in the Good News or Gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you rejoicing to be loved as the “Church” or this New Jerusalem people of The Lord? If you need more help, then Mary can help you. God invites you to covenant love. Come to Christ in the Holy Spirit’s action—come via Mary’s appeal to Her Son. ###
I will give you a few more deep things to think about with this Isaiah 66 Scripture.
Catholic interpretations of Isaiah 66:11, particularly the appealing and tender phrase of the “milk of her comfort,” draws on the imagery of a nurturing mother to describe the divine care and provision offered to God’s people, especially in the context of Jerusalem’s restoration. This is what Isaiah’s final prophesy sees, written in post-exile, in that countdown period leading to Jesus’ coming.
Jerusalem as a Nurturing Mother–meaning, the Church and in Mary’s heavenly aid
- The passage depicts Jerusalem as a mother who provides comfort and nourishment to her children. Somehow, even amid a Holy Land over-run by the foreigners and an eventual Roman empire, the “child” can expect abundant blessings, peace, and spiritual nourishment that will flow from a restored Jerusalem. How so? The “Milk of Her Comfort” is God’s Tender Care coming to people—God’s children. God’s love coming in The Christ will be offering a love to last into eternity, to be in God’s love forever. It emphasizes the intimacy and sustenance that God will provides, similar to an image of a child resting secure and fed in its mother’s arms. This divine comfort is a source of joy and satisfaction, fulfilling the deepest desires of the human heart. It is what the Church preaches about our connection to Christ as a real bond, not just some symbolic bond. We have real Sacraments, too, not just symbolic rituals. We already are feeding on Christ in His Word and Sacrament!
- Connection to the Church and Christ:
- While the initial focus of Isaiah 66 is on the restoration of Jerusalem, the passage also points to a broader spiritual reality. Catholic teaching connects this prophecy to the ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the Church, the new Jerusalem.
- Jesus, as the Bread of Life and the source of living water, provides the ultimate nourishment and satisfaction for believers. Isaiah’s Messiah figure coming is of a loving God Who will love and feed us, and nurture us in love, and inspire us in His Spirit. The Catholic who is all in for us may then know something of receiving the “milk of comfort” in their practice of faith. This Isaiah image gives us a rich tapestry of meaning that God desires a close relationship with us, begun now, and to deepen forever.