Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 25.6-10a

On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make all people a feast of fat things,
a feast of aged wines, of fat things full of marrow, of aged wine, well-refined.
He will destroy on this mountain the veil that veils all people,
and the web that is woven over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever!
The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
He will take away the reproach of his people from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It shall be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us!
This is the Lord! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”
For on this mountain the hand of the Lord will rest.

Responsorial – Psalm 23.1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 Resp. 6cd

R. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He has me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.

R. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and your staff –
they comfort me.

R. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You prepare a table before me,
in the presence of my foes.
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

R. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

R. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Gospel – Matthew 15.29-37

Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee,
and he went up on the mountain, and sat there.
Great crowds came to him,
having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others,
and they put them down at his feet.
He healed them, so that the crowd wondered when they saw
the mute speaking, the injured whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing,
and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd,
because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat.
I do not wish to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
The disciples said to him,
“Where are we to get so many loaves in a desolate place, so as to satisfy so great a crowd?”
Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground,
and he took the seven loaves and the fish.
He gave thanks and broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowd.
They all ate, and were filled, and they took up seven baskets full of the leftover broken pieces.