Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
Year C
Reading – Isaiah 25:6-10
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 22 (23)
“I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life”
Gospel – Matthew 15:29-37
Matthew 15:37 – “They all ate and were satisfied”
Today’s Gospel tells of Jesus feeding the four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish.
An awful lot of contemporary theologians and Bible commentators have tried to explain away the miracles of Jesus as spiritual symbols. Perhaps most notoriously, many preachers tried to explain the multiplication of the loaves and fishes as a “miracle” of charity, with everyone sharing the little that he had.
But I think it’s hard to deny that the first Christians were intensely interested in the miracles of Jesus, and that they didn’t see them as mere literary symbols! They saw them for what they really were: actions of God, breaking into our world.
This still happens to this day – you just need to stop and notice the miracles happening around you.
Pray for the strength to live our lives with complete honesty.
With thanks to Holy Name of Mary Parish, Hunters Hill, who have supplied these daily Advent and Christmas 2021 reflections from their publication Daily Inspirations of Faith: A Season of Prayer – Advent to Epiphany 2021-22.
