In today's first reading, Isaiah prophesies that God's invitation to us is totally free and without any strings attached. Saint Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

In one of his most eloquent passages, Saint Paul, speaking with great confidence and faith, asks a rhetorical question, "What will separate us from the love of Christ?" Nothing, as it turns out.

CERTAIN SCRIPTURE PASSAGES can make us feel rather foolish. Listening to the prophet today we realize we’ve all been thirsty—and yet have, at times, obstinately and self-destructively refused to “come to the water.” More often than we’d like to admit, we’ve squandered our resources on “what is not bread” and can’t hope to sustain us.

The call to God's people to renew the covenant with them, the prophet Isaiah says, came tucked into an invitation to the feast of God's wisdom. To feed someone is an act of love, and it's no coincidence that the renewal of God's love for God's people came at a table.

Neighbors call them the casserole ladies. When someone on the block passes away, the casserole ladies get the word out and soon there's a parade of women carrying covered dish dinners, pound cakes, hams, and other good food to the home of those who lost their loved one.

Today's gospel assures us that we will be fed and that nothing, not even Jesus' own grief, will separate us from God's love. Christ is always on call for us, ready to heal and console.

Mark Twain once wrote, "I have known many troubles in my life, most of which never happened." I'm sure that all of us have become very familiar with specific troubles that, in the end, never happened.

We are called to the table of God's love and forgiveness.

I will renew with you the everlasting covenant. The reading from the prophet marks the end of the second part of Isaiah, the "Book of Consolation," so-called because it begins at 40:1 with the words, "Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God."

Our Lord in a desert place changed a few loaves into many, and . . . before the time came to give men and women his own body and blood to feed on . . . . he gave them things . . . for nothing to make them understand that his supreme gift would be given yet more freely. --Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-373)