'Tis the Monday of the First Week of Advent: Advent-link & Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Wayback Machine '19.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Monday of the First Week of Advent
The Book of Isaiah, chapter two, verses one thru five;
Psalm One Hundred Twenty-two (R/. "Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord."), verses one & two, three & four(b), four(c/d) & five, six & seven, & eight & nine;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter eight, verses five thru eleven.
Friends, in our Gospel today a Roman centurion comes to Jesus and says, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully… I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.”Video reflection by Monsignor James Vlaun (U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops): Advent Reflection.
Any objective observer would say, “Well, this is ridiculous! What this man is asking is impossible.” He is not only asking that his servant might be cured; he is asking that he be cured at a distance, with simply a word. He’s at the limit of what he could possibly know or control or measure. And yet he trusts; he has faith.
Søren Kierkegaard defined faith as “a passion for the impossible.” Is God opposed to reason? Absolutely not; God gave us the gift of reason. Does God want us to be unrealistic? No; he wants us to use all of our powers of imagination and analysis. But faith goes beyond reason; it is a passion for what reason can’t see.
That centurion had a passion for the impossible. And that’s why Jesus says to him, in some of the highest praise you’ll find in the Gospel: “In no one in Israel have I found such faith.”
Reflect: Have you ever, as the centurion, gone beyond reason and relied on faith? Reflect on why or why not.
Video reflection by Doctor Tim Gray (Augustine Institute/Formed.org): Advent Reflection.
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