RICH FOOD AND WINE

SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER, PRIEST

Isa 25:6-10; Ps 23; Lk 15:29-37

A Banquet for the Nations

The prophet Isaiah uses the images of food and drink and the idea of a banquet to communicate the divine largesse that the coming of the Eternal Word in our human nature would provide for us. Though the images are taken from our activities in this mortal life, the meaning of what is communicated goes beyond our mortal life to our spiritual life. As we have often noted, the temporal life has no meaning without the spiritual, which is its end or purpose. The purpose God created us is for us to be with him in eternal life in heaven. Therefore, whatever does not contribute to the realization of God's will is useless for us. The mortal or temporal life and every good thing in it are means to our end with God. Based on this understanding, Augustine teaches that nothing in this temporal life should be enjoyed on its own merit, but used as a means to God, who alone we are to enjoy forever. The appearance of the Word in human nature is to enhance the sacramental nature of this life and every good and delectable thing in it. The Incarnation of the Word provides us with both physical and spiritual food. The physical food is only a sacrament of the spiritual food that is God himself.

Subsequently, the human body through which we gaze directly on the Eternal Word, aided by faith, is the primary source of our spiritual food. Therefore, the first understanding of the mountain on which Yahweh provides rich food and drink is the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The mountain, as used here, has a mystical sense of a place of divine self-revelation. “On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of food rich and juicy, of fine strained wines.” After using these sensibly appealing images, the prophet elevates our minds to a more spiritual understanding of the reality he was presenting to us or prophesying about. “On this mountain he will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, he will destroy Death for ever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek; he will take away his people’s shame everywhere on earth, for the Lord has said so.” The Lord our God has said so, and the word is divine. The prophecy was fulfilled to the letter when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. In his humanity, we could gaze on God, whom no man can ever see and live. But faith made it possible for us to eat of the bread of angels and live the angelic life. By eating this food in faith, God becomes our life.

The same humanity of Jesus Christ is the house of God in which we will dwell forever, as the Psalmist affirms. For by eating him in faith, we are transformed into him by dying his death and living his life in the Spirit. In the Gospel, we see the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah in practical terms. “Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves and the fish, and he gave thanks and broke them and handed them to the disciples, who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected what was left of the scraps, seven baskets full.” He also fulfilled the prophecy in spiritual terms, for on the hill he taught and healed large crowds that came to him: the crippled, the blind, the dumb and others. This is the banquet that Saint Francis Xavier went out to invite many people from the East. He was born in Spain in 1506. He met Ignatius Loyola as a student in Paris, and he was ordained a priest in 1537. The Pope sent him as part of a mission to India in 1541, and he spent the rest of his life in the East, preaching the Gospel in Goa and Malacca. He converted many and fought against the exploitation of the natives by the Europeans. He successfully preached in Japan for two years and founded many Christian communities. He died on the Chinese Island of Shangchuan out of exhaustion. May his prayers make us zealous to preach the Gospel.

Let us pray: O God, who through the preaching of Saint Francis Xavier won many peoples to yourself, grant that the hearts of the faithful may burn with the same zeal for the faith and that Holy Church may everywhere rejoice in an abundance of offspring. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of Holy Sirit, God, for ever and ever.