This is the Liturgy of the Hours for December 31. Your local date is .
“It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel: I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth,” (Isaiah 49:6). [1]
This ‘Servant Song’ from Isaiah shows the divine appointment of the Servant by God. We hear of his mission reaching beyond Israel to all the nations. The Church sees in this a foreshadowing of Jesus’ mission to bring salvation to the whole world. Because of God’s ample love and ability to reach to the ends of the earth, we sing of salvation and witness in diverse servanthood. [2]
Written by Sarah Ciotti
Reviewed by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB, STD
[1] New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 121-123.