Monday of the First Week of Advent
Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 8:5-11
November 28, 2022 | Monday
When Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached him, to ask his help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralyzed and suffers terribly.” Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have you under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was astonished; and said to those who were following him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.
Today’s Reflection:
How great is the faith of the junior officer in the gospel today! Is our faith in the Lord like him? As people belonging to scientifically and technologically advanced generations, we have been introduced to the principle: to see is to believe or seeing is believing. This implies that there has to be evidence for something to be accepted as true. To our surprise, we have actually applied it in the many aspects of life. It has influenced our decisions and actions, including our faith.
But there is another “way” that views things differently. It is the opposite of “to see is to believe”. It is “to believe is to see” or believing is seeing. This is the way where we experience the presence, mercy and love of God. This is the way we would know and understand better our God. St. Augustine has the words for this: “credo ut intellegam” which means “believe in order that you may understand”. That is the faith that the Lord saw in the junior officer. That is the kind of faith that we should all have. /Vulnerasti, 2022
