“Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved and every beard cut off.” (Isaiah 15:2)
Isaiah pronounces judgment on Moab. Ar and Kir are in ruins and the people go up to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba. Every head is shaved and every beard cut off. In the streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, prostrate with weeping. The waters of Nimrim are dried up and the grass is withered. Isaiah weeps for Moab; he mourns for her.
The Catechism identifies the prophetic lament over enemy nations as a figure of the divine compassion that does not rejoice in the destruction of any creature God has made: the prophet mourns even the enemy's judgment (CCC 1038).
Brothers and sisters, Isaiah weeps for Moab, the enemy, the nation that oppressed Israel. The prophet who pronounces judgment also mourns it. Speak the hard word when you must. Weep while you speak it. The tear on the prophet's cheek is the sign that the word comes from love, not from triumph.
Lord God, give your prophets the tears of Isaiah when they pronounce judgment. Let every hard word come from love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.