Isaiah 3:1

Consider whether what follows in the prophet has not received its fulfillment: "The Lord of hosts has taken away from Judah and from Jerusalem, among other things, both the prophet and the wise craftsman"; that is, his Holy Spirit, who builds the church, which is indeed the temple, and household and city of God.… And so in this manner the law and the prophets were until John, but the dews of divine grace were withdrawn from the nation.

(Chapter 3, Verse 1) For behold, the Lord God of hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the mighty and strong: all the strength of bread and all the strength of water. Thus far, they think it speaks of judgment. What follows speaks of the coming captivity; some interpret it as referring to the Babylonians, others to the Romans. But it is better, as we have said before, to refer all things to the Lord's passion. For after his death, all grace and gifts were taken away from the Jews, according to what is written in the Gospel: The law and the prophets were until John the Baptist (Matthew 11:13). And there is an order: Because you refused to stop from the man, whose spirit is in his nostrils, who is considered high: but on the contrary, you shed the blood of the righteous, and you devised the worst plan, saying: Let us bind the just, for he is useless to us (Wisdom II, 12); therefore you shall eat the fruit of your inventions. There is nothing strong among the Jews after the Passion of the Lord, nothing powerful: but everything is weak and feeble. And no one can say among them: I can do all things in him who strengthens me (Philippians IV, 13), Christ Jesus our Lord. And because we read 'strong' and 'strong woman' according to the Septuagint; we can apply it to the strong man: Until we all meet the perfect man, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Furthermore, strong women: I want, he says, all of you to present yourself as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2). But strength is also found in bread, and strength in water, as food and drink are received. We read that Moses was on Mount Sinai for forty days, and did not eat bread or drink water (Exodus 34). Also to be heard is what is said to Adam: In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken (Gen. III, 19). Likewise, what is said by the Savior: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matth. IV, 4). Therefore, the strength of bread will be taken away from them: he who says: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven (John VI, 51). And the power of water, of which the same Lord spoke: Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again. But the water that I will give him…