Monday of the First Week of Advent

Today's Mass Readings

“…[Jesus] was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith…’”

This centurion, a foreigner in Israel, in his act of faith, stands for all those people we have come across, in person, in reading, in media viewing—outsiders whose faith puts us in the shade!

I am reminded of this “shade” in a little excerpt from Pope St. Paul VI’s encyclical, Evangelii Nuntiandi (#80): “May the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ…”

The centurion stands for “the world of our time… searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope.”

So, the question comes upon you and me: are we enthusiastic evangelizers in how we act in the midst of the searching, for example, in our employees, or the people who come to our door, or the people we meet? If I am perceived as being “dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious,” will the Good News of Jesus’ forgiving love reach these people?

I realize that sometimes I do not have the degree of control over how I come across that I would like to have. Still, I must keep trying to keep mindful that I have received Christ’s forgiving love and strive to be joyful!

Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB