Wednesday of the
Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
(Isaiah 10:5-7.13b-16; Mathew 11:25-27)
Assyria was a mighty empire extending through most of the
Middle East including Egypt. It easily conquered
the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the eighth century before Christ. Although it considered itself the “cradle of civilization,”
its army as much as its cultural institutions brought it notoriety. In today’s first reading, the prophet Isaiah
denounces Assyria’s warrior ways.
Isaiah states that God had used Assyria to punish the wayward
kingdoms like Israel. But Assyria went
beyond its mandate. It sought to wipe
away other nations when it arrogantly attributed a godlike power to
itself. For this reason Isaiah predicts
the fall of Assyria which came about in the late seventh century B.C.
We should allow the fate of Assyria to serve as a lesson
for us. For whatever gifts we have, we
need to be grateful to God. We have to ask ourselves how we might employ
those gifts for God’s sake.
