Monday of the First Week of Advent
Year C
Reading – Isaiah 2: 1-5
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 121 (122): 1-2, 4-5, 6-9
“Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord”
Gospel – Matthew 8: 5-11
Matthew 8:10 – “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith”
Today’s Gospel passage acclaims a centurion’s trust in the Lord Jesus.
To trust is to have hope, to turn one’s heart to God. It means to root the whole of one’s life, to ground and centre one’s concerns in God. And oppositely, to trust and to turn one’s heart to human beings means to root the whole of one’s life, to ground and centre one’s concerns in the things of this world – in wealth, fame, power, honour, and pleasure.
What is the centre of gravity of your life? What is your “ultimate concern?” The Bible consistently lays this out as an either/or. Think of the passage in the book of Joshua, when Joshua lays it on the line for the people of Israel: “Do you serve the Lord or some other gods?”
Jesus tells his followers, “Either you are with me or you are against me.” We have to answer this question with great honesty and clarity.
Pray for the joy that the gift of faith brings.
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.
