OXYGEN

03 Dec – Wednesday in the First Week of Advent; St Francis Xavier, priest, missionary

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Isaiah 25:6-10a

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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Matthew 15:29-37

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.

On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines

In Pope Benedict XVI’s book “Jesus of Nazareth”, he writes that the miracle of the loaves has three aspects. It is preceded by the search for God, a leaving behind of everything (including food) in order to come to hear God’s word, for the teaching that sets the whole of life on the right path. Second, God is asked to supply the bread. And third, there is a readiness to share with one another that is an essential element of the miracle. Jesus is not indifferent towards men’s hunger, their bodily needs, writes the pope, but he places these things in the proper context and the proper order.

In today’s first reading, we see Isaiah prophesying about how the people will gather on the mountain of the Lord where He will prepare a fantastic banquet for all people. But there is something odd about the prophecy, because it speaks of God destroying Death for ever… through a banquet? Perhaps it is not an ordinary banquet that Isaiah is speaking of. In the gospel reading, we see Jesus appearing to fulfil this prophecy. He arrived at the shores of Galilee and goes up to the hills (mountains) where he teaches and, more importantly, performs the miracle of the multiplication of loaves, and the people eat the bread until they are filled.

This multiplication of loaves is a precursor to the banquet that Jesus, later on in His ministry, would celebrate – the institution of the Eucharist, where Jesus gives Himself to us as bread and wine, to feed us and nourish our hungry souls. It is this meal, this wedding banquet, that is the real fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Not just the parts about the rich food and fine wines, but also the part about the Lord destroying Death for ever, for we know that “anyone who eats this bread will live for ever” (John 6:51).

We all want to live forever, hence our endless quest to find that which would keep us young and healthy (and what a huge industry it is!). But deep down we know that all the cosmetics we purchase and use, together with all the health food we consume, do not really grant immortality. They just buy us a bit more time. Only in Christ, ‘the real health food’, the food that brings us life, can we find immortality. Only in Christ can we have our hopes fulfilled. Like what the pope writes, in order to be fed with this bread of everlasting life, we must first leave everything else behind to search for it, to hear God’s word. We must ask God to supply this bread, not try to manufacture our own. And we must be ready to share this food with others.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Daniel Tay)
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Prayer: Dear Lord, let our hopes for eternal life be fulfilled in You. Help us to desire to eat your flesh and drink your blood, so that we may share your divinity and live for ever. Amen.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks to the Lord for the Eucharist, through which we eat His flesh and drink His blood.

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Upcoming Readings:

Thu 04 Dec – Isaiah 26:1-6; Psalm 118; Matthew 7:21. 24-27
Fri 05 Dec – Isaiah 29:17-24; Psalm 27; Matthew 9:27-31
Sat 06 Dec – Isaiah 30:19-21; Psalm 147; Matthew 9:35-10:1. 5a. 6-8, St Nicholas Bishop
Sun 07 Dec – Isaiah 40:1-5. 9-11; Psalm 85, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Mark 1:1-8; Second Sunday of Advent