6 December, 2023 | Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

 Gospel Mt 15:29-37



Gospel Text:

At that time:

Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee,

went up on the mountain, and sat down there.

Great crowds came to him,

having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute,

and many others.

They placed them at his feet, and he cured them.

The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking,

the deformed made whole,

the lame walking,

and the blind able to see,

and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said,

"My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,

for they have been with me now for three days

and have nothing to eat.

I do not want to send them away hungry,

for fear they may collapse on the way."

The disciples said to him,

"Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place

to satisfy such a crowd?"

Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"

"Seven," they replied, "and a few fish."

He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.

Then he took the seven loaves and the fish,

gave thanks, broke the loaves,

and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.

They all ate and were satisfied.

They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets full.

Reflections:

The gospel of today tells us that Jesus is not only a compassionate healer, but also a caring, loving influencer with a sensitive and tender heart, “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.” He not only cared about their health by healing their ailments, or their spiritual needs by allowing them to stay on and learn from him for three days, but cared for their physical needs as well, by multiplying the loaves and fish to feed them to their hearts’ content. That is what Jesus does even today if we only follow him and surrender our all to him. Being with him is being on the mountain Isaiah speaks about in the first reading, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.


Activity: 
Let us make a conscious surrender to God and believe that God is deeply concerned about every aspect of our life, and that no detail of our life escapes his notice.


Comments

Post a Comment