My wife has a belen (crèche) collection. During the Advent season, I see crèches everywhere I look in my house. By the way, our house is tiny. So she only gets really tiny belens the size of Lego people—one-inch cute figures.

Many Christians think that Christmas is cute like my wife’s crèches. When they hear the word manger, they automatically think it’s a cute crib complete with fluffy blue pillows, a giant teddy bear in the corner, and mobile toys.

But that’s not a manger. The manger is a food box for sheep and cattle. Believe me, mangers aren’t cute. They’re dirty, smelly, and ugly. Is it a place where you’ll put your baby?

So why would God, the Creator of the universe, choose to be born in a food box? Because He wants to love you where you are. He wants to come and heal you from the ugliest, darkest, dirtiest place in your life.

Friend, are you in a mess? Are you in darkness? Remember that God became Man on Christmas day because He wants to be with you in the manger of life. Believe in His power to heal. Believe in His heart of love.

Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

reflect

“We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Dear Jesus, thank You for coming into our midst. We embrace Your presence this season. Amen.

Blessed Charles de Foucauld, pray for us.

Throughout their sojourn in the desert, the Israelites were led by the cloud of God’s glory during the day and by fire at night. The Lord’s glory is said to be their protection from the heat of the sun and their refuge and shelter from the storm. This is the promise of God’s presence that we need to acknowledge. God is never far from us. Our experience of distance is solely the result of our choice to not call upon Him.

² On that day, the branch of the Lord will be luster and glory, and the fruit of the earth will be honor and splendor for the survivors of Israel. ³ He who remains in Zion and he who is left in Jerusalem will be called holy: every one marked down for life in Jerusalem. ⁴ When the Lord washes away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purges Jerusalem’s blood from her midst with a blast of searing judgment, ⁵ then will the Lord create, over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her place of assembly, a smoking cloud by day and a light of flaming fire by night. ⁶ For over all, the Lord’s glory will be shelter and protection: shade from the parching heat of day, refuge and cover from storm and rain. 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 122:1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

R: Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

¹ I rejoiced because they said to me, “We will go up to the house of the Lord.” ² And now we have set foot within your gates, O Jerusalem. (R) ³ Jerusalem, built as a city with compact unity. ⁴ To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord. (R) According to the decree for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. ⁵ In it are set up judgment seats, seats for the house of David. (R) ⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love you prosper! ⁷ May peace be within your walls, prosperity in your buildings. (R) ⁸ Because of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you!” ⁹ Because of the house of the Lord, our God, I will pray for your good. (R)

Gospel | Matthew 8:5-11

A Roman centurion, who is a pagan but participates in the Synagogue worship with the Jews, asks Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus is willing to go with him. But when Jesus starts to walk toward his house, the centurion says there is no need for Him to come because he is unworthy. Jesus just needs to say the word, and the centurion is confident that his servant will be healed.  Jesus is amazed and delighted by this man’s faith. Let us imitate this centurion’s faith and have complete confidence that the Lord will heal us.

Gospel Acclamation 

Come and save us, Lord our God; let your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

⁵ When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, ⁶ saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” ⁷ He said to him, “I will come and cure him.” ⁸ 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. ⁹ 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.” ¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. ¹¹ 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.”

Reflect:

Do you believe in the power of God’s Word? 

What has He spoken that has come true in your life?

Read the Bible in one year! Read PSALMS 131 - 135 today.

The centurions or the Roman officers were the backbone of the Roman army in Jesus’ time. They evoke awe, fear, and admiration. A Gentile centurion takes center stage in today’s Gospel. There is something special about this centurion—his gentle attitude toward his servant. The centurion was grieved that his servant was ill, and he was determined to do everything in his power to save him. He cared intimately for his servant. In other Gospel accounts of the same story, we even see the centurion kneeling before Jesus in behalf of his servant.

It is the Advent season once more—that time when the Christian world is invited to reflect on the scandalizing humility of God, being born for worthless “servants.” Before the Law, slaves of Jesus’ time did not have legal personality. 

They did not have rights. They did not exist practically, as their existence was justified only by the master who adopted them to his home. By pleading before Jesus for a “nonperson,” the centurion showed that he saw in his slave more than a domestic assistant. He saw his slave as a brother.

We should be practically nonexistent before God because of our sins. By our iniquity, we have no claim. But Jesus took on our lowly nature and dressed us with the robe of dignity—that of being God’s children. That is what we contemplate in the season of Advent. This is the joy of our advent anticipation.

Today’s Responsorial Psalm reads: “I rejoiced when I heard them say: let us go to God’s house.” The birth of Jesus opened the path to God’s house and has thrown open the gates of the Kingdom. Don’t trivialize the Advent season by following only the roads that lead to the malls. 

Fr. Joel Jason

Reflection question

“I rejoiced when I heard them say, ‘Let us go to God’s house.’” Pray this psalm in your moments of silence, and instill that noble Advent hope.

In Your coming as Man, Lord Jesus, we were made coheirs of the Kingdom. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________