December 1, 2025, Monday of the First Week of Advent
Lectionary #175, Matthew 8: 5-11
Scripture:
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.”
Reflection:
The sad and terrible fact about the end of the world will not be “the roaring of the sea and waves…men dying” of fright and the shaken powers in the heavens.” The dreadful part about that end-time will be that hearts could be surprised in rot. “Be on your guard, lest your hearts become bloated with indulgence and drunkenness and worldly cares”.
The middle-aged man in the hospital bed was clearly depressed. It was the end of the world for him. “I’m dying, Father,” he didn’t have to say. “I really am. But I’ve been dead for a long time. The difference is that now they’re going to bury me.” He had “abused”, he said, of everyone and everything he had touched throughout his life. He was dead inside and had the frightened look of a man climbing the gallows. “I should have been more careful with my life…”
Today’s Gospel words give hope. There is a way to preserve my heart and my spirit from corruption. “Be on guard lest your spirits (or your hearts) become bloated…Be on the watch…Pray constantly for the strength to escape”.
I have a treasure within me. A heart within my breast, the beat of life. It is the source of all my affections, dreams of holiness, the root of hard-won integrity, and fidelity. Something marvelous beyond words to say. Fountainhead of character, honor, and decency. Wellspring of honesty and principled behavior. I have within me this wondrous capacity for the sublime and the heroic. I hear today’s Gospel warning me to take care of that heart and that spirit: watch out for that splendid heart of yours. Don’t infect it and diminish it. You will be losing something divine within you. Whatever you do with your life, don’t foul up your heart, for God’s sake!
The gospel makes its point. “Be on guard… be on the watch… pray constantly. That day will close in on you like a trap”. Pray always: prayer, in the Christian sense, is a means of staying close and remaining present and intimate with God, the source of strength needed for daily living. Significantly, the Gospel should insist on it when our “ransom is near at hand”. Constant prayer is Advent.
There will be ecstatic pleasure on that day for the persons who will have kept their hearts fit for the Kingdom, still able to love without small print and conditions, to believe without hedging.
The Advent season was made for that man in the hospital bed. People like him have to know that Hope became a Person. The evils of the day are only symptoms. Sickness lies deep within the heart. But then again, so does joy and glory.
La Salette Invocation:
Our Lady of La Salette, reconciler of sinners, pray without ceasing for us who have recourse to you.
