Monday, December 2, 2019
1st Week of Advent
First Reading: Is 4:2-6
Gospel Reading: Mt 8:5-11
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 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.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
This first week of Advent opens with an invitation to improve the quality of our faith. The model presented to us is the faith of the junior officer in today’s Gospel. He said, “just give an order and my boy will be healed”. He said this after he acknowledged his unworthiness to have Jesus under his roof. In effect he was extolling the power of Jesus to the heavens as he brought himself down to the lowest level in an act of humility. This won the heart of Jesus.
Today’s Gospel invites us to cultivate the same kind of faith – one rooted in humility. Faith without humility calls to mind the Faith of the Pharisee who prayed: “I thank you Lord for I am not like that man…..” Jesus rejected this kind of faith. He preferred the faith of the Publican who couldn’t even raise his head while asking for mercy and forgiveness.
One of the best descriptions of God is living water because water seeks the lowest level. As living water, God pours himself generously to those who stoop low. Just as water cannot flow higher than itself, God won’t dwell in people who position themselves higher than God. The army captain featured in today’s Gospel reading demonstrated what humble faith means. Because he stooped low, living water flowed unto his household and his servant was restored to life.
The season of Advent opens with an invitation to improve the quality of our faith by the practice of humility. This is because Advent is supposed to prepare us for the birth of a God who reduced himself to the lowest term. Let’s start the advent season from the lowest. As one’s jump is higher if he stoops down the lowest, so is our spiritual growth towards the stature of Christ if our faith is characterized by humility. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., DM.
1st Week of Advent
First Reading: Is 4:2-6
Gospel Reading: Mt 8:5-11
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 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.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
This first week of Advent opens with an invitation to improve the quality of our faith. The model presented to us is the faith of the junior officer in today’s Gospel. He said, “just give an order and my boy will be healed”. He said this after he acknowledged his unworthiness to have Jesus under his roof. In effect he was extolling the power of Jesus to the heavens as he brought himself down to the lowest level in an act of humility. This won the heart of Jesus.
Today’s Gospel invites us to cultivate the same kind of faith – one rooted in humility. Faith without humility calls to mind the Faith of the Pharisee who prayed: “I thank you Lord for I am not like that man…..” Jesus rejected this kind of faith. He preferred the faith of the Publican who couldn’t even raise his head while asking for mercy and forgiveness.
One of the best descriptions of God is living water because water seeks the lowest level. As living water, God pours himself generously to those who stoop low. Just as water cannot flow higher than itself, God won’t dwell in people who position themselves higher than God. The army captain featured in today’s Gospel reading demonstrated what humble faith means. Because he stooped low, living water flowed unto his household and his servant was restored to life.
The season of Advent opens with an invitation to improve the quality of our faith by the practice of humility. This is because Advent is supposed to prepare us for the birth of a God who reduced himself to the lowest term. Let’s start the advent season from the lowest. As one’s jump is higher if he stoops down the lowest, so is our spiritual growth towards the stature of Christ if our faith is characterized by humility. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., DM.
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