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 en-
tered 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 autho-
rity, 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 Je-
sus heard this He marvelled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that fol-
lowed 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.

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Commentary:

1-10. “They besought Him earnestly” (verse 4). Here is an example of the effec-
tiveness 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 spiri-
tual 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 hu-
mility. 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 be-
cause 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 Him-
self 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 eucha-
ristic 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.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading	1 Corinthians 11:17-26,33 ©

On the subject of instructions, I cannot say that you have done well in holding meetings that do you more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you all come together as a community, there are separate factions among you, and I half believe it – since there must no doubt be separate groups among you, to distinguish those who are to be trusted. The point is, when you hold these meetings, it is not the Lord’s Supper that you are eating, since when the time comes to eat, everyone is in such a hurry to start his own supper that one person goes hungry while another is getting drunk. Surely you have homes for eating and drinking in? Surely you have enough respect for the community of God not to make poor people embarrassed? What am I to say to you? Congratulate you? I cannot congratulate you on this.

For this is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you: that on the same night that he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread, and thanked God for it and broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ In the same way he took the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’ Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming his death, So to sum up, my dear brothers, when you meet for the Meal, wait for one another.

Psalm	Psalm 39:7-10,17 ©