Today is the feast of St. Nicholas, about whom I have already said quite a bit, both in a previous blog post from 2 years ago and in a video from last year. For a better appreciation of this wonderful saint, I would encourage you to go back and check those out; but since I have already said a fair amount about him in the past, for the purposes of this post I am going to focus instead on the readings for today.
The First Reading from Isaiah (remember him?) speaks of the coming of the Lord as a great feast of "juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines". Then the Gospel tells the story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish and feeding the multitude. In this Gospel, Jesus says, "I do not want to send them away hungry." Like the multitude, we too are hungry in a way that Jesus alone can satisfy. And like the multitude, Jesus does not want to send us away hungry.
It's significant that when Christ is born, He is born in a manger, in a feeding box for animals. The food with which Jesus feeds us is His very self. He alone can satisfy the deepest hunger of our hearts. And so even from the moment of His birth, He makes Himself our food. The feast that Isaiah speaks about isn't just food and wine. Our Savior comes to feed us with the great gift of Himself. And nowhere is this more true than in the Eucharist, when He literally feeds us with His own Body and Blood.
During this Advent season, I invite you to consider what are the deepest hungers of your heart and how are you filling that hunger with the wrong things? Only Jesus can fill that hunger. During Advent, remove the counterfeits in your life that take His place, and you'll be in a much better position to receive Him this Christmas. Jesus is coming to feed you. Do not fill yourself on anything less than Him.
Pax Vobiscum
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