NOTES for Isa 6:1-12

Today we read one of the most famous and beautiful passages in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah—his vision in the Temple in Jerusalem. The prophet beholds the heavenly worship in which bodiless beings eternally glorify the holiness of the Lord of Hosts. This angelic praise is the greatest and fullest opposite of sin. The life of heaven is centered upon it because everyone who sees the Lord sees all His beauty. Glorifying this beauty and holiness makes those who offer praise themselves participants in divine life. It is not that God forces the angels to glorify Him. He has no need of this song of praise. On earth, when we see something truly beautiful, we exclaim, “What a wonder! How marvelous!” The song of the seraphim is of precisely this kind; it is born of wonder and amazement at the divine perfections.

It is also worthy of wonder and amazement that the seraphim say that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. This already concerns us human beings directly. Just as the life of heaven is spent in praise, so human life too may be spent contemplating and marveling at the glory of God that fills the whole earth. This is precisely what the Church does in the liturgy.