Day 101: Expecting the Messiah

"Behold, I am doing a new thing." Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant, the people of the poor, who await in hope the "consolation of Israel" and "the redemption of Jerusalem." CCC 711

The Catechism speaks of the expectation of the Messiah in today's reading, but this section limits itself to that "in which the relationship of the Messiah and his Spirit appears more clearly." It takes us through some of that history in the Old Testament, especially that found in Isaiah (cf Isa 11:1-2). As the Catechism Compendium writes:

The term “prophets” means those who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak in the name of God. The Spirit brings the prophecies of the Old Testament to their complete fulfillment in Christ whose mystery he reveals in the New Testament. (#140)

Their laying of the proverbial groundwork among the people for the coming of the Messiah was made even clearer by the immediate forerunner John the Baptist. As the Catechism Companion, Vol I notes:

In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah plays a significant part in preparing the people for the Messiah, and John the Baptist plays this role at the start of the New Testament, making way for Jesus Christ... The Holy Spirit has not only been acting since Pentecost but also had been acting before that time through the prophets, especially through John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit has operated throughout all human history... (p. 206)

The Holy Spirit began the work of restoring to man "the divine likeness" as "John's baptism was for repentance; baptism in water and the Spirit will be a new birth" (CCC 720).