2nd December, 2013. Monday in the 1st Week of Advent
Isa. 2:1ff. Learning wisdom and peace from the Messiah, they shall beat their swords into ploughshares.
Mt. 8:5ff. Jesus cures the centurion’s servant, for his strong faith, and says that many foreigners will share in Israel’s blessings.
First Reading: Isaiah 2:1-5
The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.
Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. ” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11
When he 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
One of the things one never hears at a Sunday Mass when the time comes for prayers for particular causes is a reminder that “we” have been praying for a particular cause and are continuing to pray for this in the expectation of the prayer being answered. You never hear prayers for a particular person who is part of the congregation and who may be ill or in difficulty. You never hear it spoken that something that had been prayed for has been granted. And you never hear God being thanked that a particular prayer has been answered.