Message of Abbot Paul - Monday 4th December 2023

What a joy it was yesterday to celebrate Advent Sunday and so begin a fresh journey with Jesus, his Virgin Mother and beloved disciples. Each day, accompanied by his word, we walk with Jesus as he walks with us. There are times when we grow weary of the journey and times when we are tempted to give up, but Jesus is here at our side and his Spirit lives deep within us. What is more, as disciples we do not journey alone, for we have travelling companions with whom we share all things, especially our faith. This is what the Church is, a communion of faith, centred on Jesus and guided by his Spirit.

 

​Today our Gospel passage comes from Matthew, (Mt 8: 5-11), for on Advent weekdays these can be chosen from all four Gospels. It tells of the healing of the centurion’s servant. Let us hear what Matthew says.

 

“When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great pain.’ ‘I will come myself and cure him,’ said Jesus. The centurion replied, ‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes; to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, ‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this. And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven.’”

 

We are struck by the humility of the centurion that Jesus will call faith, an interesting fact in itself. Christian faith is not so much belief as trust, trust in a loving God made visible in Jesus. Now the centurion, a pagan, was an important official in the imperial administration and yet he breaks through the barriers of rank and race to ask Jesus to heal his servant. That he comes begging not for himself but for his servant tells us much about the character of the man. When Jesus offers to go to his house immediately to cure him, the centurion declares himself unworthy to receive Jesus into his home. So deeply did his words mark early Christian communities that many of them introduced his words, only slightly modified, into the celebration of the Eucharist. What strikes us most is the reaction of Jesus, who is astonished at the faith of the centurion, for his is a true model of Christian prayer, marked as it should be with humility and trust.

 

​Lord, grant us the humble faith of that centurion and teach us to pray as he did. Amen.