From: Luke 7:1-10
The Centurion's Faith
[1] After He (Jesus) had ended all His sayings in the hearing of the
people He entered Capernaum. [2] Now a centurion had a slave who was
dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. [3] When he heard
of Jesus, he sent to Him elders of the Jews, asking Him to come and
heal his slave. [4] And when they came to Jesus, they besought Him
earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have You do this for him, [5] for he
loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue." [6] And Jesus went
with them. When He was not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to Him, saying to Him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am
not worthy to have You come under my roof; [7] therefore I did not
presume to come to You. But say the word, and let my servant be
healed. [8] For I am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me:
and I say to one, `Go,' and he goes; and to another, `Come,' and he
comes; and to my slave, `Do this,' and he does it." [9] When Jesus
heard this He marvelled at him, and turned and said to the multitude
that followed Him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such
faith." [10] And when those who had been sent returned to the house,
they found the slave well.
Commentary:
1-10. "They besought Him earnestly" (verse 4). Here is an example of
the effectiveness of the prayer of petition, which induces Almighty God
to work a miracle. In this connection St. Bernard explains what we
should ask God for: "As I see it, the petitions of the heart consists
in three things [...]. The first two have to do with the present, that
is, with things for the body and for the soul; the third is the
blessedness of eternal life. Do not be surprised that He says that we
should ask God for things for the body: all things come from Him,
physical as well as spiritual things [...]. However, we should pray
more often and more fervently for things our souls need, that is, for
God's grace and for virtues" ("Fifth Lenten Sermon", 8f). To obtain His
grace--of whatever kind--God Himself expects us to ask Him assiduously,
confidently, humbly and persistently.
What stands out here is the centurion's humility: he did not belong to
the chosen people, he was a pagan; but he makes his request through
friends, with deep humility. Humility is the route to faith, whether
to receive faith for the first time or to revive it. Speaking of his
own conversion experience, St. Augustine says that because he was not
humble, he could not understand how Jesus, who was such a humble
person, could be God, nor how God could teach anyone by lowering
Himself to the point of taking on our human condition. This was
precisely why the Word, eternal Truth, became man--to demolish our
pride, to encourage our love, to subdue all things and thereby be able
to raise us up (cf. "Confessions", VII, 18, 24).
6-7. Such is the faith and humility of the centurion that the Church,
in its eucharistic liturgy, gives us his very words to express our own
sentiments just before receiving Holy Communion; we too should strive
to have this interior disposition when Jesus enters our roof, our
soul.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.