“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the skirt of his robe filled the temple. Seraphim were in attendance on him. Each had six wings; with one pair of wings they covered their faces and with another their bodies, and with the third pair they flew. They were calling to one another, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory’.” (Isaiah 6:1-3)

Isaiah’s Seraphim open up the prophet’s vision, sanctify his person, consecrate his mission. Solemn introduction to messianic prophecies that will prepare from of old the coming of Emmanuel, the sufferings of the Servant of Yahweh, the flowering of the root of Jesse. They show reverence before the throne of Yahweh as they cover their faces and their bodies with their wings while they sing together the hymn that is the centre of heaven’s liturgy and has come to be the centre too of our own Eucharistic prayer before the sovereign God who reigns over clouds and descends upon our altars. Holy, holy, holy!

God’s holiness is the very essence of his being. It is his own name, his essential attribute, his definition. God is The Holy One, and any other sanctity is told only in reference to him and as a partial sharing in his essence. The seraphim know Him whom they adore, and so they sing without ceasing the summary of their knowledge, their worship, their praise of him: Holy, holy, holy!

I quietly join in their song. Since I know the lyrics I can repeat them by their side. Holy, holy, holy! They have been singing the song from eternity, and I hope to reach eternity too with those same words on my lips and in my heart so that I can quickly get integrated into the life in heaven with those who are living it since its beginning.

While singing of God’s holiness I hope that some of it may stick to me in my lowliness too, that I may learn the tune, that I become familiar with its accent, that it keeps sounding in my ears and seeps into all the fibres of my body, deep into my mind and my soul, in preparation for the moment when I will approach that same holiness before which the Seraphim keep guard. I want to learn from the Seraphim to train myself for heaven.