'Tis the Wednesday of the First Week of Advent: Advent-link & Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Wayback Machine '18.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
The Book of Isaiah, chapter twenty-five, verses six thru ten(a);
Psalm Twenty-three (R/. six[c/d]), verses one, two, & three(a); three(b) & four; five; & six;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter fifteen, verses twenty-nine thru thirty-seven.
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fishes. There is no better exemplification in the Scriptures of what I have called the loop of grace. God offers, as a sheer grace, the gift of being, but if we try to cling to that gift and make it our own, we lose it.Video reflection by Jem Sullivan, Ph.D. (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): Advent Reflection.
The constant command of the Bible is this: what you have received as a gift, give as a gift—and you will find the original gift multiplied and enhanced. One realizes this truth when one enters willingly into the loop of grace, giving away that which one is receiving.
The hungry people who gather around Jesus in this scene are symbolic of the hungry human race, starving, from the time of Adam and Eve, for what will satisfy. We have tried to fill up the emptiness with wealth, pleasure, power, honor, the sheer love of domination—but none of it works, precisely because we have all been wired for God and God is nothing but love.
Reflect: How have you responded to the biblical imperative that what you receive as gift, you should give as gift? Where do you find yourself clinging to what you have and not wanting to give it away?
Video reflection by Doctor Tim Gray (Augustine Institute/Formed.org): Advent Reflection.
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