As the above passage continues, Jesus will marvel at the faith of this Gentile centurion. He will then send the centurion home with the assurance that his servant is healed. Matthew will note: “And the servant was healed at that very moment."
The centurion had no doubt that Jesus could heal from a distance. It was only a question of whether Jesus would choose to heal the servant at all. When Jesus says to him, “Go. Let it be done for you according to your faith,” the centurion fully believes that the servant is indeed healed.
It might be worthwhile to think about the level of my faith. When I pray and ask God to do something and it doesn’t happen, what kinds of thoughts cross my mind?
· Do I wonder if God could really do it?
· Do I believe that God could, and trust that God didn’t because there’s more to it than I can see?
· Do I believe that God could, and wonder why God wouldn’t, and decide that it’s more or less because of my own sinfulness?
Don’t answer too quickly.
Talk to the Lord about it.
The El Salvador Martyrs
In 1980, Ita Ford, a Maryknoll sister serving in El Salvador wrote a letter to her 16-year-old niece and godchild, Jennifer Ford. In it, she said:
“I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you. Something worth living for – maybe even worth dying for, something that energizes you, enables you to keep moving ahead.
”I can’t tell you what it might be – that’s for you to find, to choose, to love. I can just encourage you to start looking and support you in the search.”
Three months later on December 2, Sister Ita and three other women missionaries were killed by a death squad in El Salvador