In today’s first reading we see a glimpse of the heavenly banquet that awaits us. Where the finest food and drink is served, and all are at peace in His love and grace. No more weeping and mourning, only joy! The Lord is our shepherd there is nothing we shall want.
Even today, our all loving Heavenly Father provides for His faithful children’s needs. We are so Blessed that we do not have to die to have a foretaste of Heaven. Each and everyone of us can partake of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ Jesus our Lord in Holy Eucharist. We are fed, nourished and made whole! We have new life in Him and are joined in Holy Communion with Him and one another.
Great are You Lord, now and forever. Amen
Saint John Damascene, 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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