Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 4th December, 2024
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
Memorial of St Francis Xavier, One of he first Jesuits, sent to India, Goa, and Japan.
Died in 1552 on his way to China, a patron of the missions
There is a very striking portrayal of the compassion of Jesus for the broken and needy in today’s gospel.
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Isaiah 25:6-10
The Lord invites us to his banquet and wipes away the tears from every cheek.
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 of Hosts 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.
The Word of the Lord Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 22
Response In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose.
Near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit. Response
2 He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name.
If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear.
You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort. Response
3 You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes.
My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing. Response
4 Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.
In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever. Response
Gospel Acclamation Is 33:22
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Look the Lord is our judge, the Lord our lawgiver, the Lord our King and our saviour.
Alleluia!
Or
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Behold our Lord will come to save his people. Blessed are those who are ready to meet him.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 15:29-37 Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus cures many people and provides food for all.
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.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Wednesday, First Week of Advent Matthew 15:29-37
There is a very striking portrayal of the compassion of Jesus for the broken and needy in today’s gospel reading. He initially healed the lame, the crippled, the blind and those unable to speak, all of whom had been brought to him by a large crowd. He then noticed how hungry this large crowd was; he was concerned for their physical well-being. He didn’t say, as we might be tempted to say, ‘I have done enough compassionate work for today. It is time for me to move on’. When faced with human need, he could not but respond with a compassionate heart. The disciples were of a different frame of mind, perhaps more like ourselves. When Jesus mentioned the hunger of the crowd to them, they answered, ‘Where could we get enough food in this deserted place to feed such a crowd!’
As we might say today, they were telling Jesus, ‘Don’t even think about it!’
However, Jesus could not but think about it and he prodded his disciples to think about it, ‘How many loaves have you?’ The discovery that seven loaves were available and a few small fish wouldn’t have inspired anyone with hope or confidence. Yet, this was all Jesus needed to feed the hunger of the crowd. His compassionate heart could work powerfully through the smallest of human resources. The gospel reading suggests that we need to give the Lord’s compassionate heart space to work through us. The Lord never turns aside from human need but sometimes he can only address it with our help, even though we may feel we have very little to offer him. The task can seem so much greater than the resources at our disposal. We wonder if it is worth our while to begin at all. Yet, we will often be surprised and amazed at how powerfully the Lord can work through our seemingly limited resources and efforts, if we trust that he can and will do so.
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he Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
