The liturgical readings continue the theme and imagery Isaiah uses to help his hearers recognize the power and strength that comes from the house and mountain of God. He reminds his listeners that on his mountain the Lord God gives a feast to those who come. He provides healing and care through a process of purification. Reread the Isaiah verses slowly and let your mind taste and see how good is the good God! On his mountain there is redemption. His hands hold all who come to him.
In the words of Matthew, Isaiah's words take flesh. Jesus goes up a mountain, drawing many to himself. He healed and he cured because the same Jesus we receive in the Eucharist was moved with pity for those in great need.
The second part of the gospel reading describes how Jesus used the gifts the Father gave him. He used the seen loaves and a few fish to feed the large crowd. As we spend Advent days of prayer preparing our hearts for a recelebration of the birth of Jesus, consider the talents and the skills that God has given you. See yourself and these God-given gifts as food for others, as ways for others to recognize God's goodness to you.
The Church celebrates the feast of an extraordinary missionary today, Spanish Jesuit priest Francisco Xavier. A very bright priest who was one of the seven men with St. Ignatius when the Jesuit order was founded and approved by the Holy See. It was his openness to God's gift to him that brought him far away from his native Spain and his relocated home in Rome to India and Japan. There he tirelessly labored to use his talents to feed others, to teach others and to comfort others. He gave all he had because he believed he was God's instrument in making the imagery of Isaiah's mountain description of God's kingdom as a reality, a possibility in the lives of others.
Francis Xavier made real the teaching and the feeding we see in the life of Jesus. Xavier was truly what Ignatius taught his followers to be: a staff in the hands of a master, God. In Xavier's life, he was the staff in the hands of the Good Shepherd on the Lord's mountain.
And you? Where are you today? Do you recognize you own gifts and do you use them so that others might be fed? that others may know how good is the good God? During these Advent days of waiting, consider your response.
