Saturday, June 28, 2025 - Saturday in the 12th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gen 18:1-15 and Matt 8:5-17]
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." [Jesus] said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed." [Matthew]
The centurion's act of faith is recalled at every celebration of the Eucharist just before we come to receive communion. And these words came from a pagan soldier in the Roman army! A similar incident will occur later in the Gospel According to Matthew with the Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter. [Matt. 15:21-28]. In both cases, there is a comment by Jesus to the fact that faith could be found outside of Judaism. The healing of the centurion's servant is one of three straight healings and follows the teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is shown to be both teacher and healer, much in the image of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.
What captures my attention today, however, is Jesus' response to faith from an unlikely source. Indeed, in the case of the Canaanite woman later on, the disciples want her to be silenced! Pope Francis caused quite a stir in some Catholic circles when his document, Amoris laetitiae, after the Synod on the Family, urged "accompaniment" and compassion for those who find themselves excluded from communion in the church. Jesus' healing reached beyond the barriers created by religious observance to anyone who believed in him. Yes, there are important values of faith and observance guarded in the Catechism and the Code of Canon Law. But when these are used to keep certain people from the compassion of Jesus whose example we must follow, then we are fighting against the gospel instead of preaching it. Do we really share the Centurion's faith? AMEN
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