MONDAY OF THE
FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT
(Isaiah 2:1-5; Matthew 8:5-11)
Because Advent is the season of hope, it is also the time
of social justice. Especially people under
the sieges of war and of oppression should now sense an expectation of their
deliverance. They share Isaiah’s dream
in the first reading that the scourge of the sword is being forged into a
plowshare of prosperity.
The gospel portrays a man of eminent hope. The centurion recognizes Jesus as God’s
emissary. He knows that what Jesus says
has the full authority of the Almighty. He
hopes that Jesus will give him the word that his servant will be healed. Once he hears it, there is no need to impose
himself more on the Lord. He takes his
leave knowing that Jesus’ word will be fulfilled.
We should have hopes as high as Isaiah’s and the
centurion’s at the beginning of Advent. We
hope that the wounds of racism will be completely healed. We hope that the terrorists in Syria and Iraq
are soundly defeated. We hope that
immigrants in our country will receive their just due. Like a dieter with a vision of a thin self in
mind, we realize that these hopes will not come without effort. But, like her again, we know that they cannot
be achieved without the help of God.
