Verse 8
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak peace unto his people:
Audiam quid loquatur in me Dominus Deus, quoniam loquetur pacem in plebem suam.
In order to make us certain of those things he is about to say, the Prophet reminds us in this verse that he is not speaking from himself but from God’s revelation to him; and that he is prophesying only that which he himself heard first from God. “I will hear,” he says, “what the Lord God will speak in me,” that is, I will speak of that which I hear from God; therefore, having put forward my petition , I will hear what God’s response may be, so that I can reveal to others. Now he says : “What the Lord God will speak in me,” so as to signify that God’s locutions to the Prophets is interior and spiritual. For the Holy Spirit dwelling within the Prophets speaks to them inwardly, and what they hear first with the ears of the heart then comes through their tongues to the bodily ears of others. The words in me do not appear in the Hebrew text but the Septuagint translators added them, so as to explain God’s way of speaking to the Prophets, as is seen in
Osee I: “The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osee;”
[1] and in
Zachar. i. “and the angel that spoke in me, said to me.”
[2] Moreover, the words I will hear imply attention and a desire to hear, as though he were saying : Willingly and attentively I will hear, for it is God’s way to speak good and useful things. “For he will speak peace unto his people,” that is, I know God will speak peace to his people, therefore I will hear willingly and attentively what the Lord
God may speak to me. And so the summary of God’s words is the announcement and promise of peace, through the coming of the Messiah, whom the Prophet petitioned, saying: “Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy; and grant us thy salvation.” God therefore grants a Saviour, and through Him He will announce and establish a most perfect peace : hence (Isaiah speaks of) “the Prince, of Peace;”
[3] and it says in
Coloss. i. : He will reconcile all things unto himself “ both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven.”
[4] Now peace encompasses the whole range of God’s benefits, and we shall never enjoy perfect peace until we arrive at the heavenly Jerusalem, which is interpreted as the vision of peace. For peace is opposed to war, but we shall not be free from war until “Death is swallowed up in victory, and when this mortal hath put on immortality,”
[5] as Blessed Paul says in I
Corinth. xv.; for then will cease the war with vices and concupiscences, with the princes of darkness, with all our difficulties and necessities. For while we yet live here on earth, “The life of man upon earth is a warfare,”
[6] however much we may desire within ourselves to be at peace with all.
[1] The beginning of the Lord's speaking by Osee:.... Principium loquendi Domino in Osee. [Osee i. 1]
[2] And I said: What are these, my Lord? and the angel that spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are: Et dixi : Quid sunt isti, domine mi? Et dixit ad me angelus qui loquebatur in me : Ego ostendam tibi quid sint haec. [Zachar. i. 9]
[3] Isaiah ix. 6.
[4] And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. et per eum reconciliare omnia in ipsum, pacificans per sanguinem crucis ejus, sive quae in terris, sive quae in caelis sunt. [Coloss. i. 20]
[5] And when this mortal hath put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. Cum autem mortale hoc induerit immortalitatem, tunc fiet sermo, qui scriptus est : Absorpta est mors in victoria. [I Corinth. xv. 54]
[6] The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling. Militia est vita hominis super terram; et sicut dies mercenarii, dies ejus. [Job. vii. 1]
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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