28 November. Monday, Advent, Week 1

First Reading: Isaiah 2:4-6

Wisdom and peace when swords are beaten into ploughshares

Thus says the Lord: “On that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and glory of the survivors of Israel. Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, once the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.

Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over its places of assembly a cloud by day and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night. Indeed over all the glory there will be a canopy. It will serve as a pavilion, a shade by day from the heat, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.”

Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11

Jesus heals the centurion’s servant and welcomes foreigners to share in Israel’s blessings

When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”

When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”

Vision of a better future

The weekdays of Advent offer us Isaiah’s vision of universal peace. He cherishes the hope that all nations and races will come together harmoniously to worship the God of Israel. The Advent vision sweeps far beyond our narrow boundaries so that all nations and ethnic groups are streaming toward the Lord’s temple. Are we Catholics willing to open our doors and welcome all these people, so different from ourselves?

In the Gospel, Jesus is invited to the home of a Roman centurion – a soldier whose job is to represent a foreign, oppressive power – and he accepts! When the Roman who hesitates, feeling unworthy of Jesus’ presence in his home, Jesus is amazed at such genuine humility, and notes the centurion’s care for his slave, who would have been from some defeated nation. The centurion bows before Jesus, a Jew, for the sake of his slave!

Jesus praises this outsider as a genuine man, a spiritual descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He still advises us to look in unlikely places and people to learn to be his true followers today. He tells us too, “I have never found this much faith” in your midst. During Advent can we too learn from outsiders how to live worthily in God’s holy presence? From unexpected sources we can learn so much.

The words spoken by the Roman centurion in today’s gospel are very familiar to us. Before we receive Holy Communion we repeat what he says almost word for word. The revised translation of the Missal brings our response even closer to the wording of the centurion’s response. The centurion expresses two convictions: a recognition of his own unworthiness to have the Lord share his home, and a tremendous trust in the Lord’s word. These convictions are what Jesus identifies as his faith. The centurion’s convictions are worth cultivating this Advent. We begin Advent aware of our own unworthiness, aware of our need and our longing for a fuller coming of the Lord into our lives. We also begin Advent with a trust that the Lord wants to respond to our need and longing, with a conviction the word of the Lord can heal and renew us, recreate and refashion us. Out of our poverty we pray with great confidence, “Come Lord Jesus.” [MH]