In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
We begin this holy season of Advent, which is truly a time that God gives to us. It is a time of grace in which our hearts are to be renewed as we prepare to receive Christ on Christmas Day, our Lord and Savior who is born for us.
And as we begin this season, we have the example given to us in today’s Gospel of the centurion, whom we can contemplate today and contemplate by his example, and by which we see some of the themes of the season of Advent.
The first is one of faith, that Advent is a time for us to be renewed in our faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the Son of God who is born for us. The most important event of all human history took place in a stable in which the Son of God was born for us on Christmas Day. And so we see that our whole life’s journey is following this Child and committing our lives to this Child. And so we want to be renewed in our faith in Jesus, and that faith transforms us, by which we walk with Him daily and give witness to Him in a world which often has rejected Him. And so we want to imitate and to be renewed in our faith in Jesus during this holy season of Advent.
The second beautiful virtue which we see also in the centurion is humility. And humility is a beautiful virtue by which we see Christ, the King of heaven, is born in a humble stable, but also that we recognize our need for our Savior, that we are dependent upon this Child, that we need Him, and that we need to cling to Him, that He may help us in all that we do, above all, that we may be transformed by Him and imitate Him.
And we see the centurion’s humility, recognizing his unworthiness to have Christ come under his roof. “Lord, I’m not worthy to have You enter under my roof. Only say the word and my servant will be healed.”  And so we see this beautiful virtue of humility, which we contemplate in this season of Advent, recognizing that I am nothing without Christ, that I am totally dependent upon Him, and that I need Him and I need to stay close to Him.
So this season of Advent is an opportunity for us, as we begin this holy time, to be renewed in our faith and our dependence upon Christ, and that we may receive Him on Christmas Day with renewed hearts, filled with love and devotion.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.