First Monday of Advent

Reflection based on Matthew 8: 5 -11

In the Hope of Grace

There is a story of two priests who were speaking about their respective blood brothers, both of whom had strayed from the Catholic faith. One remarked, “I have been praying for my brother for fifteen years and I’m beginning to lose hope.” The other responded, not without wisdom, “I’ve been praying for my brother for twenty-five years, and I am beginning to hope.”

The message of the parable is important: when our hearts are tested by the secularism around us (or within us), prayer for others is related to our hope in the power and presence of God’s grace. Our hope can be tried, but such trials are also related to our own progressive conversion, and therefore serve to our spiritual benefit.

The confession of faith by the Roman centurion in Matthew’s Gospel reminds us that the grace of God can sometimes be at work in hidden or invisible ways in the depths of our neighbours, even in those who are initially ignorant of the Gospel, hostile to it, or estranged from the Church.

Advent is a season of hope in the promises of God, hope for the conversion of ourselves and of others. We should pray ardently, for this great good, and allow hope in Christ to change us. For who are we to underestimate the power of the grace of God?

Father Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

Loving Father, make us faithful witnesses to the presence of your merciful grace, and convert the world to the saving power of your love, for in you alone is our hope of salvation.