In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
 the whole earth is full of his glory.”

The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Vatican II speaks of the threefold office or work of the Lord Jesus as prophet, priest and king. And Vatican II tells us that all Christians, by virtue of their Christian faith and baptism, share in each of these ministries. (See, for instance, Vatican II, Lumen gentium, On the Church, sections 31 and 35.)

We share in various ways in the prophetic ministry of the Lord Jesus by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and witnessing to it by the holiness of our lives and our works of Christ-like love. Saint Benedict of Nursia – a monk, an abbot and founder of the Benedictines (not a priest) who died in the year 547 and whose feast we celebrate today – is an example of these three things.

We meditate well, then, on today’s first reading about Isaiah’s call to prophetic ministry. Like us, he is acutely aware of the holiness of God. We repeat in every Mass as part of the Eucharistic Prayer the song of the Angels – the “Holy, holy, holy.”

We are all, to some extent, sinners who live among sinners in a world of sin. Again, in every Mass, we begin appropriately by acknowledging our sins and asking God’s forgiveness, and God does forgive and purify us.

In every Mass, too, we hear God say, “Whom shall I send?” And we reply with generosity, “Here am I, Lord; send me!” (One of my favorites forms for the dismissal at the end of Mass is: “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.”)

—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ, is a member of a community of senior Jesuits at Saint Ignatius Hall in Black Jack, Missouri. He does limited spiritual direction, mostly online; gives sacramental care to the lay Catholics at the adjacent retirement community; writes occasional reflections for Jesuit Prayer.

All-loving God, I ask that you give me the help, courage, and grace I need to change the things that you call and empower me to change.

May I live always according to your loving will and plan in the role to which you call me, sharing in your saving and sanctifying work.

I ask this through your Son Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen

—Fr. Bob Hagan, SJ