"Lord, I am not worthy ..."

"Lord, I am not worthy ..."
 
Today in the gospel of Matthew 8: 5-11, a Roman centurion helps us to make Advent a time to know Jesus better. He has a servant who is paralyzed and in great pain. He comes to Jesus and pleads for a cure. When Jesus says that he will come to his house to heal the servant, the centurion replies with the words that we repeat at Mass, with a slight change, just before Communion, ''Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.'' Jesus was astonished at the faith of the man. He, a commanding officer in the Roman army, recognized Jesus for who he was. Although the religious authorities rejected Jesus, the centurion saw that he had power from God to comfort and heal. Advent is a special time when we too are called to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, the Word, present in the world since creation. ''He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him. In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.'' (John 1: 1-4). The Son of God, who was born as Jesus, the son of Mary, is present in creation all around us. Advent is the time to ''stay awake'' and recognize Jesus present in nature, in our family members and in the sufferings and joys of the people who surround us. ''You are the light of minds that know you. Help us to know you so that we may truly love you; help us to love you that we may fully serve you, because in serving you we find perfect freedom.'' (Saint Augustine)
 
Don Hornsey
 

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