FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
November 28, 2022
FIRST MONDAY OF ADVENT
WORD of the DAY
When
Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him,
saying,
“Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”
He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The
centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my
roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man
subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and
he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’
and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those
following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such
faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will
recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 8:5-11)
How shall I live this Word? 
These are the words we usually use before meeting Christ in the Eucharist. However, we almost never consider the faith that should accompany this man’s so natural and so true expression. The centurion makes Jesus understand that his faith in him is so great that he does not need any other sign, or who knows what concrete proof other than just his simple command. For him, the word of Jesus is enough to change the cards on the table, without the need for extraordinary demonstrations, checks, counter-proofs. We constantly feel the need for signs, clues, gestures, guarantees perhaps because we don’t really have faith in Him. We thus seek outward manifestations, because we do not believe that He is able to change the substance of things. Today’s password, on the other hand, is to ‘trust’ the Word without asking for other ‘signs’. The best sign is trust. It is being able to pray with the conviction that we have already been heard. It is giving oneself up in the awareness that if God says that He loves us, He can never account for love because He would work against Himself. Faith is being able to believe in this love and not in the reality of events on their surface. A child doesn’t make too many theories about the dangers if he is in his mother’s or father’s arms. He lives in the intimate certainty that it is the closeness of that person that makes him feel uninterruptedly safe. Faith is given to us, but being able to trust depends on our free choice.
“May your help, O Father, make us persevering in good while waiting for Christ your Son; grant that when He comes and knocks on the door, He may find us vigilant in prayer, active in fraternal charity, and exultant in praise” (Collect of the day).
The Voice of Cardinal Pietro Parolin
We must be accumulators of God’s love through an intense life of union with Him, through prayer, through the sacraments, through life in the Church.
____________________________________________________________________
R E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment by Fr. Maurizio Lollobrigida SDB
