"Here I am, send me ..."

Isaiah was hiking Jerusalem at dawn— the city stretched, yawned and woke up slow.

Merchants were rolling out carpets. Kids chasing each other through alleys. Priests lighting lamps in the Temple courts.

Nothing unusual.

He stepped inside the Temple, expecting silence. Instead, he felt the air thicken— like the moment before a storm breaks.

And then he saw it. Not with his eyes. With something deeper. A throne—high, impossible, blazing.

The hem of God’s robe spilled across the temple floor like a river of light.

Above it, seraphim hovered— six-winged, fire-bright, singing a song that shook the stones beneath his feet:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.”

Isaiah dropped to his knees. He wasn’t brave, ready or holy!

He whispered the only thing he could admit in truth: “I am a man of unclean lips.”
 

The Coal That Didn’t Burn

One seraph glided toward him— not threatening, not angry— just purposeful.

In its hand: a burning coal from the altar.

Isaiah braced for pain. But when the coal touched his lips, it didn’t scorch. It healed.

A warmth spread through him— not fire, but freedom. 

“You are clean. “Your guilt is gone.”

The Call That Echoed

Then came the voice. Not loud, not soft; just… everywhere.

“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”

Isaiah didn’t think. Didn’t calculate. Didn’t ask for details. His heart answered before his mouth did:

“Here I am. Send me.”

And that was it. A poet-prophet was born. Why should we be willing? Isaiah shows that mission is not about our strength — it’s about God’s holiness, God’s healing and God’s heart for His people. Bottom line--it's about love. 

Isaiah walked into the Jerusalem sunlight, a different man. He became the prophet who prequeled the Messiah as:

• The Suffering Servant
• The Prince of Peace
• The shoot from the stump of Jesse
• The virgin who would conceive Emmanuel

He is the voice that carried hope through wars, exiles and shattered kingdoms. 

He is the prophet whose words Christ Himself would read to the scribes and pharisees in Nazareth centuries later.

His feast day is May 9.

Resources

Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1997. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Catholic Encyclopedia. 1910. “Isaias.” Robert Appleton Company.
https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08179b.htm 

Pontifical Biblical Commission. 1993. The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/pcb_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19930423_interpretation-bible_en.html