Dear Friend,

Monday of the First Week of Advent

Matthew 8:5-11

Reflection by Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly

“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”  Other than the Lord’s Prayer, these words are perhaps the most familiar and most often uttered by each one of us.  We express our unworthiness immediately before receiving the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion at each Mass.  The centurion in today’s gospel uttered them first as he approached Jesus on behalf of his paralyzed servant.  Unworthiness, then and now, is not an obstacle for Christ; rather, in the context of faith, it can become the place where grace abounds.

The truth is that God’s love comes to us in our unworthiness, in the midst of our weakness and as we find ourselves in the throes of our enduring weariness from the burdens and challenges of life.  Jesus’s words from today’s gospel are cause for us to take heart: “I will come and cure him.”  His presence and his words of assurance offer accompaniment, healing, and strength to carry on, then and now.

The image for today is from the Saint Joseph Chapel in Boland Hall, the oldest dorm on campus.  For generations, through joys and challenges, in the midst of tragedy and triumph, the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus in the midst of the community has been a sign of hope, comfort and strength.  Over the many years, the Lord has never been scandalized by our unworthiness.  God unceasingly seeks out hearts that will offer Him welcome.  God knows where welcome waits, then and now.

As we take up this Advent journey, we do so with confident faith – like the centurion – trusting in Jesus’ promise to come and to cure, to abide and to assuage.  As we present ourselves before the Lord in the Eucharist, our honest prayer urges us to admit our powerlessness to fix our own situations, however messy they may be.  Christ is the power of God (I Cor. 1:24), not you or me!  May these days of Advent bring us to accept this truth and learn to live into it and out of it.  What a great way to begin this holy season!  As the Irish say: “Well begun is half done!”

Prayer:

Father in Heaven, your love was not content to remain in heaven, but came to us in the midst of our weakness and unworthiness.  Help me to acknowledge my need for you and turn to you as I am.  I know I will find in you welcome, comfort and healing.  Come to me as I am.  Amen.

Know someone who may be interested in receiving our daily reflection emails? Invite them to sign up by visiting our subscription page.

Rev. Msgr. Joseph Reilly, S.T.L., Ph.D., former Rector/Dean, Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He holds a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, a licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) from Pontificio Istituto Teresianum, Rome, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Fordham University. He has served as a member of the Archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, the Advisory Committee on Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation of Priests, the Archdiocesan Vocations Board, and the Board of Trustees of Seton Hall University. Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain to His Holiness in 2005, with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In 2016 during the Holy Year of Mercy, the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization sought priests who were living signs "of the Father's welcome to all those in search of His forgiveness." He was the only priest from the Archdiocese of Newark formally commissioned as a Missionary of Mercy by Pope Francis.