When Jesus had finished all his words to the people,
he entered Capernaum.
A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,
and he was valuable to him.
When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,
asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,
"He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us."
And Jesus went with them,
but when he was only a short distance from the house,
the centurion sent friends to tell him,
"Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I too am a person subject to authority,
with soldiers subject to me.
And I say to one, Go, and he goes;
and to another, Come here, and he comes;
and to my slave, Do this, and he does it."
When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him
and, turning, said to the crowd following him,
"I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."
When the messengers returned to the house,
they found the slave in good health. (Luke 7:1-10)
“Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” It was about 12 years ago—the First Sunday of Advent—when the English speaking world experienced the new translation of the Mass as we have it now. Among the revisions was the response to the invitation to Holy Communion: “that you should enter under my roof… my soul shall be healed.” It is close to the Latin original which is close to the source in Scripture—from Matt and Luke. What we have read today is the version of Luke: "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed.” These are the words of the centurion who was asking Jesus to heal his servant. A centurion is an important person in the Roman army—one who was in charge of 100 men, thus, “centurion.”
In our gospel reading, he intercedes for his servant. He was so kind to him that he asked Jesus to heal his servant—the servant, as we heard, was “valuable” to him. Even as a Roman, he was a benefactor of the synagogue and supported it. He was a beloved figure in Capernaum. This was how he was linked to Jesus. He had the experience of commanding and he made use of this analogy in his request to Jesus. Jesus saw his faith and praised it: Jesus was amazed! This prompted the Lord to heal the centurion's servant.
The centurion acknowledged the power of Jesus’ word. Who are the persons who need healing? Like the centurion, do we intercede for them? Today we ask the Lord: only say the word! When we say these words before communion, let us say them fervently for they are an expression of profound faith.
(Homily delivered at the National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, Paranaque, 18 Sep 2023)
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