Friday December 18

Scripture

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 he will destroy on this mountain
the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
the sheet that is spread over all nations;
he will swallow up death for ever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,
and the disgrace of his people he 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 him, so that he
might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.
- Isaiah 25

Hymn - Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming

Isaiah ‘twas foretold it,
the Rose I have in mind,
with Mary we behold it,
the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright,
she bore to us a Saviour,
when half spent was the night.

Meditation

What do we do at the end of the world? We eat! Isaiah describes this event as a feast. Whereas God, in love and for our sakes, will ‘swallow up’ death forever, we will feast on rich foods. This is this Eucharistic feast. This is the meal in which we are all drawn together, the moment in which all our divisions are stripped away. While, together we wait for this great feast, where is it that you see people coming together in love, to share with one another?