December 1/First Monday of Advent
“Simply say it with a word, and my servant shall be healed.” ~ Matt 8.8
“We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord,” the prayer begins, “trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.” Growing up in the Episcopal Church, I recited this prayer every week at the Rite I Eucharist. Even now, as a Catholic, the “Prayer of Humble Access” remains one of my favorite liturgical prayers, and I often say it silently before receiving communion. An awareness of where one stands in relation to Jesus is the beginning of Christian humility, and in today’s Gospel, the Roman centurion embodies it. A senior military officer in an occupying army, the centurion has many reasons to trust in his own righteousness, or congratulate himself on his worthiness: he has power, social standing, and surely a chest festooned with medals. Yet he is profoundly aware that status and achievement do not matter here; what matters is his abiding faith in Jesus’s ability to heal. He is also strikingly attuned to and respectful of the religious barriers that separate him from this itinerant Jewish preacher and healer: as an observant Jew, Jesus could not possibly enter the house of a Gentile, under any circumstances. Instead of haranguing Jesus, belittling his beliefs, or insisting on having his way (any of which we might do today), he accepts these limitations and works around them. “Only say it with a word,” he pragmatically asks (the grammatical form of the Greek suggests this translation instead of the traditional “only say the word”). Girded by his faith in Jesus’s power, he humbles himself: your will be done, Lord, not mine. Your way be followed, Lord, not mine. Your order be obeyed, O Lord, not mine. In his humility and faith, the centurion shows us the path to God.
Almighty God, I pray today that I might always approach you in great humility and with great faith. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120125.cfm
To hear the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, sing “Domine, non sum dignus,” by William Byrd, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3oqMz22kHs
