Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11

 

The Lord marveled at the centurion. He marveled at his faith. The centurion made a journey to meet the Lord, but he made it in faith. He not only encountered the Lord, but he came to know the joy of being encountered by him. And this is precisely the sort of encounter we desire, the encounter of faith. To encounter the Lord, but also to allow ourselves to be encountered by him. 

 

When we go out to meet the Lord we in some sense are masters of the moment. However, when we allow ourselves to be encountered by him, he enters into us and renews us from within. This is what it means for Christ to come: to renew all things, to renew hearts, souls, lives, hope and the journey.

 

Advent is a time truly to open our minds and hearts to him, because when he comes to us, he may tell us what he wants us to do, which is not always what we want him to tell us. 

 

It is important, therefore, that we never forget that he is the Lord and he will tell us what he intends for us. The Lord does not look upon us all at once, as a mass of people! He looks at us one by one, in the face, in the eyes, for true love is not something abstract but rather something very concrete. Person to person. The Lord, who is a Person, looking at me, a person. That is why allowing the Lord to come and meet me also means allowing him to love me. 

 

Let us begin this journey in prayer, charity and praise, so that the Lord might come to meet us, but let us allow him to meet us with our defenses down, in openness!