Monday of Advent 1 – Is 4:2-6; Ps 122; Matthew 8:5-11

A spear and a pruning-hook. Defend and feed – these seem so close together. And yet one means peace, the other war, one – security, the other – enemies nearby.

How much depends on our actions, on our choices? This centurion, an enemy by definition, whose faith turns out to be more rational than ours. Doesn’t he show us that we can always choose: good, truth, God? Is such humility alien to us: to perceive God’s laws, its triumph in this foreign, hostile world? Does faith seeking healing seem naïve or necessary to us?

When we repeat the words of the Centurion before the Eucharist, when we come to our churches – we bear witness to the same truth: God’s triumph over death, over the fall, over oblivion. I believe that we will take into our hands not a spear, but a pruning-hook. That our readiness, our vigilance, our toil will be blessed with a harvest.