A Vision in a Time of Crisis
Isaiah chapter 6 marks a decisive moment in the prophet’s life and in Israel’s history. The vision occurs amid national upheaval: the death of King Uzziah, the Syro-Ephraimite war in 734 B.C., the fall of Samaria in 722, and the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem under Sennacherib in 701. In this desolate context, “the Lord of hosts” reveals Himself to Isaiah in overwhelming glory—“the hem of His robe filled the temple” (v.1).
As human beings, as citizens of a nation and of the world, as Christians, our humanity and our faith commit us to build peace: to have peace in our personal life and to promote social peace in our troubled world. We all desire peace, St. Augustine says, and therefore, St. Thomas adds, “we desire to obtain what we desire”: peace through continuing peacemaking by peaceful means.
“The Way of the Gospel” is the name of the new pilgrimage route to be established in southern Japan, precisely in the places where the first missionaries worked and where the extraordinary experience of the “hidden Christians” developed.