Monday of the First Week of Advent (December 4, 2023)
Many peoples shall come and say:
"Come, let us climb the LORD's mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths."
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
-Isaiah 2:3
Some general reflections for the First Week of Advent:
On the First Sunday of Advent in each liturgical year, the Gospel that is proclaimed speaks of the last day and the need to be vigilant: “Be watchful! Be alert” (Mark 13:33). Entering into the Advent Season each year, we are invited focus our attention on the One who is to come. The liturgies of the First Week of Advent break open for us what the meaning of the First Coming of Christ (the life and ministry of Jesus), as well as the meaning of Christ’s Second Coming in the fullness of time.
The Readings proclaimed during the weekdays of Advent complement each other, as we see the prophecies and promises of the First Readings fulfilled in the Gospel Readings and the significance of the Gospel Readings enriched by the First Reading and the Responsorial Psalm.
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In Gospel for the Monday of the First Week of Advent, we hear about a Roman centurion who approaches Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his servant. When Jesus replies that he will come and heal the servant, the centurion replies “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed” (Matthew 8:8). Moreover, he recognizes Jesus as someone with authority. This moving exchange becomes even more remarkable when we recall that first-century Palestine was under Roman rule. And so, not only was the man asking Jesus for help a Gentile, but he was also part of the occupying enemy forces. Despite their differences, however, he recognizes something within Jesus that most others were unable to discern.
Icon depicting Jesus healing the Centurion’s Servant from the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos, Greece
Despite the stark religious, cultural, and political realities that separated Jesus and the centurion, Jesus doesn’t hesitate to heal the suffering servant. But the act of healing isn’t the end of the story. Jesus uses their exchange as an opportunity to highlight the truth that, in the fullness of the Reign of God, all peoples—Jews and Gentiles—will have a place at God’s table:
"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 8:10-11)
Here, we see how, in his life and mission, Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah: In the fullness of time, all nations shall be brought together and those things that divide us (spears and swords that destroy) will be transformed into tools that will benefit all those whom the Lord has brought together (plowshares and pruning hooks). To say it another way, through the saving work of Jesus, the One who was promised from of old, death will be transformed into life and all divisions will be wiped away. As Pope Francis has reflected, these texts spell out for us how Advent is a universal pilgrimage that finds its fulfillment in the saving work of Jesus:
It is a universal pilgrimage toward a common goal, which in the Old Testament is Jerusalem, where the Temple of the Lord rises. For from there, from Jerusalem came the revelation of the Face of God and of his Law. Revelation found its fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and he, the Word made flesh, became the “Temple of the Lord”: he is both guide and goal of our pilgrimage, of the pilgrimage of the entire People of God; and in his light the other peoples may also walk toward the Kingdom of justice, toward the Kingdom of peace.
This is one facet of our Advent hope: that Christ’s work of restoring the unity of creation is being—and will be—accomplished in the lives of Christians who are willing to make real in our own lives the saving and communion-fostering work of Jesus, who is the source of unity and reconciliation for all peoples and nations.
Keep us alert, we pray, O Lord our God,
as we await the advent of Christ your Son,
so that, when he comes and knocks,
he may find us watchful in prayer
and exultant in his praise.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for Monday of the First Week of Advent
