Exemplary Faith Pleasing to the Lord in Our Advent Preparation - Monday of the First Week of Advent (I)

Now that first Advent candle is lit, symbolizing our fervent hope for the coming of Christ, as we begin Season of Advent – as we begin our preparation to welcome the incarnated Christ in our hearts at his arrival with vigilance and patience.

We have begun this Advent preparation (Cycle C) on First Sunday of Advent, reminded of God’s post-exilic promise for the Messianic King out of the Davidic royal line to bring security and justice in the City of David, Jerusalem (Jeremiah 33:14-16). And the name of the Messianic King (Christ) in Jerusalem is the Lord of our righteousness (Jeremiah 33:16). And in kicking off this Advent Season, Jesus reminded us of the importance of persistent vigilance and prayer in order for us not to sink into drowsiness with anxieties and stress from tribulation before his coming (Luke 21:25-28, 34-36). And Paul called us to grow in love for one another as we prepare ourselves to welcome Christ at his arrival so that we are pleasing to him (1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2).

Now, on the second day of this Advent, Monday of the First Week of Advent of odd-number year, we once again reflect on God’s promise on Jerusalem (Zion) to establish the house of the Lord there to bring all nations together, humbled to worship the Lord and share peace in the light of the Lord (Isaiah 2:1-5). This means that we are now preparing to be with Christ the Messianic King at his arrival in Jerusalem, gathered together as one to be with him (i.e. John 17:20-23) in the house of the Lord. In light of our Advent preparation, the house of the Lord in God’s promise in Jerusalem is found in our hearts.  In other words, through this Advent Season, we prepare our hearts with vigilance and diligence, to be pleasing for him to reside. As our bodies make up the Temple of God, our hearts are the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is securely placed – where Christ resides. And this Temple, that is us, is abound in love (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

In the Gospel Reading (Matthew 8:5-11) for Monday of the First Week of Advent of odd-number year, we see Jesus commending the faith of a Roman centurion with these words:

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 (Matthew 8:10-11).

In the above statement, in response to the exemplary faith of the centurion, Jesus was reflecting God’s promise for Jerusalem to be the place of the house of the Lord, where the faithful of all nations gather as one in peace, together with him and the patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the banquet. Because this is rather an eschatological banquet (i.e. Revelation 19:6-9), we are reminded that preparation to welcome the incarnated Christ in our hearts, making them the Holy of the Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem, in us is ultimately our preparation to meet Christ upon his return at the end of time as the King of the Universe, called at the banquet for his nuptial union with his Church, the bride. And, we must be as faithful as the Roman centurion to be with him,

So, on this Monday of the First Week of Advent, 2021, we ask ourselves: Do we have the kind of faith as the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5-11) had, pleasing to the Lord, as we have begun our preparation to welcome the incarnated Christ at his arrival, as God’s promise for Jerusalem is to be fulfilled?