NOTES for Isa 6:1-8

For some reason, the Lord needs to send someone. We keep wanting Him to act Himself, directly, everywhere and in everything. Yet there are at least two reasons why He does not do so. The first is that He is, after all, God and not one of us. Since the incarnation of the Son of God, we often forget this, and then it begins to seem to us that He is simply obliged to come down to earth and take part in all our affairs... We forget that His help is not an obligation, but a great mercy. The second reason is His respect for our freedom. He wants us to hear His voice not because it is impossible not to hear it, but because we have chosen to hear it. He leaves us free to stop our ears—and that is why He sends a human being.

The prophet Isaiah, for his part, does not ask at all why He needs to send someone. He simply responds to the call at once: “If You need to send someone, here I am; send me.”