Friday of the First Week of Advent
Year C
Reading – Isaiah 29:17-24
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26 (27):1, 4, 13-14
“The Lord is my light and my salvation”
Gospel – Matthew 9:27-31
Matthew 9:28 – “Do you believe that I can do this?”
The miracles of Jesus are very much linked to faith. When people truly believe that he is the son of God, he is able to heal them. On the other hand, when Jesus was unable to inspire the people of Nazareth – his own hometown – it is said that he was unable to do many miracles there due to the people’s lack of faith.
Another observation about faith and the acts of Jesus is to consider the question people ask frequently today, which is ‘why are there no miracles seen today like those we read about in the Bible?’. The fact is, these miracles are all around us if we could only look and listen for them. The first miracle is that Jesus saved us through his taking on all our sin as he died on the cross. His rising again delivered us a divine miracle in everlasting life with our Father in heaven.
Meanwhile, many miracles happen through our lives by the grace of God. It’s easy to take them for granted but try and remember those very special times when something happened that was perhaps a little surprising or pleasantly unexpected. Miracles don’t have to be life-changing, but they are life-giving. It’s not important to notice them, but just know that they happen and enrich our lives and support our faith.
Pray for our beautiful environment today.
With thanks to Holy Name of Mary Parish, Hunters Hill, who have supplied these daily Advent and Christmas 2021 reflections from their publication Daily Inspirations of Faith: A Season of Prayer – Advent to Epiphany 2021-22.
