Is your heart not bursting with joy? Yes while in advent we are on a penitential journey no doubt, to prepare our hearts to receive Him anew this Christmas. We strive therefore to remain steadfast and stand ready at all times awaiting His return.
But how can we at the same time not rejoice that the promises of the Lord our God has already been fulfilled by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! The temple veil has been torn, we now live in the full presence of our Lord. We have a foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet through Holy Eucharist and can have full communion with our Bridegroom.
This is our reality! So we can no longer live as mournful catholics but as One Body in Him full of Hope. As we wait in joyful anticipation of His return. Amen
Saint Nicholas, pray for us..
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First reading
Isaiah 25:6-10 ·
The Lord will prepare a banquet for every nation
On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples
a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of food rich and juicy, of fine strained wines.
On this mountain he will remove
the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever.
The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek; he will take away his people’s shame
everywhere on earth, for the Lord has said so.
That day, it will be said: See, this is our God in whom we hoped for salvation; the Lord is the one in whom we hoped.
We exult and we rejoice that he has saved us; for the hand of the Lord rests on this mountain.
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Gospel
Matthew 15:29-37
The crowds praised the God of Israel
Jesus reached the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and he went up into the hills. He sat there, and large crowds came to him bringing the lame, the crippled, the blind, the dumb and many others; these they put down at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were astonished to see the dumb speaking, the cripples whole again, the lame walking and the blind with their sight, and they praised the God of Israel.
But Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them off hungry, they might collapse on the way.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Where could we get enough bread in this deserted place to feed such a crowd?’ Jesus said to them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ ‘Seven’ they said ‘and a few small fish.’ Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and he gave thanks and broke them and handed them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected what was left of the scraps, seven baskets full.
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