5 Dec
Wed 		1st Week of Advent
Is. 25:6-10
Ps. 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6
Mt. 15:29-37
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Jesus' self-understanding was highly influenced by the prophet Isaiah, and so too we frequently turn to Isaiah to help us understand the mystery of God saving us in Christ Jesus. Isaiah looked forward to the day when the Lord God would "wipe away the tears from all faces" by saving us. In Matthew chapter 11 Jesus answered John the Baptist's question. When John the Baptist sent two disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the one to come, Jesus answered by quoting Isaiah, "The blind see and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the Gospel is preached to the poor". Today we read about Jesus continuing this ministry of compassion as He heals the crippled, the deformed, the blind and the dumb.

Isaiah speaks of "the mountain" as the place where God would hold a feast for the nations and heal all our illness. So too, it is on "the mountain" that Jesus carries out His ministry of compassion in healing the sick. His compassion reaches out to everyone as He anticipates the heavenly banquet by feeding the crowd: "My heart is moved with pity for the crowd."


Lord Jesus, have pity on us. Help us in all our needs. Heal us and make us whole.

DAILY OFFERING
Eternal Father, I offer You everything I do this day; my thoughts, words, joys and sufferings. Grant that, vivified by the Holy Spirit and united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, my life this day may be of service to You and to others. I also pray that all those preparing for marriage discover in Sacrament the source of Christ's grace for living a fithful and fruitful love. Amen.

PRAYING WITH THE CHURCH
INTENTION
That Christians may free themselves from the subtle forms of cultural conditioning which prevent them from recognising the dignity and rights of others
Elaboration

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P R A Y I N G    W I T H    T H E    C H U R C H    

INTENTION : That Christians may free themselves from the subtle forms of cultural conditioning which prevent them from recognising the dignity and rights of others

Our vocation and mission as Christians is to bring the light of Christ to the world in order to preserve the world from corruption by permeating it with the values of the Gospel. We need, ourselves, first and foremost to be enlightened by Christ. We do not generate light, we only refract, reflect and radiate. It is His light that we must cast on the world. The more transparent our lives are with the values of the Gospel, the better is the light of Christ reflected and the less we are seen.

The world in which we live is mixed with wheat and weeds. There is good and evil. Consumerism is but the logical sequence of a materialistic way of life. Spiritual values are forgotten. Our wants are made to appear as our needs and we are forced to get so immersed in the joys of this world as to forget the joys of the world to come. We are admonished to be aware lest we be trapped by these and other forms of cultural conditioning that mark this world.

Awareness is the first step to change. We pray that this awareness may help us to be delivered from the cultural conditioning that hinders and hampers our vision and prevents us from recognising the dignity and the rights of others.



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