December 1, 2025
The Mondays of Advent
Fr. Alberto Joan Pari, Secretary of the Holy Land
In this Sunday’s Gospel we encounter a surprising scene: a Roman centurion, a foreigner and a pagan, who approaches Jesus to intercede on behalf of his servant.
We are in Capernaum, a frontier city, a crossroads of peoples. It is significant that in the Jewish world of the first century—deeply marked by tension with Roman occupation—it is precisely a representative of the imperial army who expresses one of the greatest professions of faith in the entire Gospel.
For a Jew of that time, the arrival of the Messiah meant above all the liberation of the people, the restoration of justice, the purification of Israel, and fidelity to the Torah. The figure of the pagan was associated with ritual impurity and distance from the Covenant.
For this reason the centurion’s response so deeply strikes Jesus.
Not only does he recognize the authority of Christ, but he intuits the power of His word, a central element of the Jewish faith: God creates and saves through His Word (“dabar”). The centurion is essentially saying: “You do not need to come physically; Your word is enough.” It is a faith that grasps a profoundly Jewish aspect of revelation, even though it comes from outside.
The centurion’s words—“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant shall be healed”—are so powerful that the Church has taken them up in preparation for Communion during Mass.
Every time we say them, we make that man’s wonder and humility our own:
– we recognize that salvation is a gift, not something earned;
– we affirm that the Word of Christ is effective;
– we open ourselves to an encounter that surpasses our boundaries and expectations.
It is moving to think that even today, two millennia later, the faith of a Roman centurion resounds on the lips of millions of believers before receiving the Eucharist.
Advent begins with this passage to remind us that the Lord often comes from unexpected directions.
The Messiah is not welcomed only by those who “belong,” but by those who recognize Him with a sincere heart. Jesus’ promise—“Many will come from the east and the west” (v. 11)—announces a Kingdom that transcends boundaries, gathering different peoples at the same table, as foretold by the prophets.
In this time of waiting, the centurion invites us to three attitudes:
Humility: recognizing the deep need that dwells in our homes, our relationships, our inner life.
Trust in the Word: allowing a single word of the Lord—heard, meditated, cherished—to begin healing what is wounded.
Openness to the unexpected: allowing God to surprise our rigid images, to visit our boundaries, to be found where we least expect Him.
The centurion does not ask for a sign, does not demand, does not display merits: he simply trusts.
This is the faith that inaugurates Advent: a faith that waits, that listens, that entrusts itself to a single Word in order to begin living even now the coming Kingdom.
May the journey of this Advent make us able to say with truth, each day:
“Lord, I am not worthy… but only say the word.”
