Reflection (The readings are below, for your reference)
God will take away your disgrace!
Lately I have been reading and listening to Tara Brach, a teacher of Buddhist spirituality. In her book Radical Acceptance she writes about the trance of unworthiness in which we are convinced that “there is something wrong with me.” Oh boy, do I resonate! This trance of unworthiness is indeed a shroud and I love this passage from Isaiah because it tells us that God takes away our disgrace, wipes our tears, and destroys the shroud of unworthiness. With God as our shepherd, our cup overflows, our table is filled with a feast of rich foods and choice wine. Let us be glad and rejoice and dwell in the house of the Lord forever!
Namaste! Amen!
P.S. I notice that this Gospel, about which it is believed that Andrew was the one to notice the child with the loaves and fishes, falls the day after the feast of Andrew the Apostle – clever!
The Readings
Isaiah 25:6-10a
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines,
of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
And God will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
God will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of God’s people God will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
Lo, this is our God; we have waited for God, so that God might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in God’s salvation.
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
Psalm 23
You Lord are my shepherd, I shall not want.
You make me lie down in green pastures;
you lead me beside still waters;
you restore my soul.
You lead me in right paths
for your name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,*
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
my whole life long.
Matthew 15:29-37
After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.
The readings are from the website below, with tiny adjustments to make the text more inclusive.
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