Saturday, November 29, 2014

Reflection for Monday December 1, Monday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 8:5-11

Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11
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.”
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Reflection:
What brought the centurion to Jesus? It was his great faith, when the centurion went to Jesus for help for his servant he had nothing except his great faith. He firmly believed in Jesus power to heal and he used his mighty faith to convince Jesus to cure his servant.

Who is this centurion? He is a roman officer that has people under his command, he also is not a follower yet he has great faith in Jesus. Don’t we want this kind of faith also? Of course we all want our faith to be like the centurions. Therefore we must prayerfully ask Jesus to give us the same faith. But do we ask Jesus to give us the gift of faith? Is the gift of faith always part of our prayer request for Jesus?

If Jesus could give that great faith to a non-follower like the centurion why can’t He give us the same faith considering that we are his followers? Faith is a gift that Jesus freely and generously gives to anyone who prays for it.

What is our usual prayer to Jesus? Is it always to have the things of this world. Let us not forget that the things of this world are passing and temporary. While faith will not pass, it’s not also temporary.   

Faith will be with us until forever, it will accompany us in our journey beyond this world going to the eternal Kingdom of the King of Kings no other than Jesus Himself.

Give us the gift of faith O Lord Jesus, most especially the one who is reading this reflection right now. Amen. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

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