Archdiocese Of St. Louis

Today our Jesse Tree reflection focuses on the calling of the prophet Isaiah and the symbol of the Burning Coal. (Isaiah 6) Isaiah is called by God in the midst of the moral decline of Israel and Judah. God calls him and sends him as a prophet to His people calling them to repent and turn back to God. It’s during this calling that Isaiah is overcome with an awareness of his own sinfulness and cries out “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!” (Isaiah 6:5) At that very moment, a seraph takes a burning coal from the altar of God and touches it to Isaiah’s lips so as to cleanse him from his sinfulness, and prepare him for the mission God was calling him to as His prophet. Freed from his own sin, Isaiah goes forth to call the people to repentance. He also proclaims to them God’s promise of hope and salvation which we hear in his prophecies proclaiming the coming of Immanuel. As we journey throu