RBWords

[1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33 and Luke 7:1-10]

     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.  [Luke]

     These words should be familiar to most of my Beloved Congregation!  We say them just before receiving communion at Mass.  Like all rituals, however, they can lose their depth of meaning because they are familiar and said often.  This can be especially true when they are taken out of context.  The scriptural context concerns the faith of a pagan Roman soldier that the verbal command of Jesus would be sufficient to heal his sick servant.  The centurion's faith amazes Jesus because he had been encountering resistance to his preaching among his own people, who believed in God - Israel.  At Mass, presumably those who repeat the centurion's words are believers in the power of Jesus' word.

     I think the centurion has something to teach us about faith.  In the first scripture for today, St. Paul reminds the Corinthians not to take for granted the gift of the body and blood of Christ, shared in the context of a meal.  They should "remember" what it means.  He quotes the tradition "handed down" to him: "Do this in remembrance of me."  The repetition of the centurion's act of faith should be the same for us, and not simply a set of ritual words that are part of the ceremony.  This takes an effort because there is much at Mass to distract us!  In fact, we may be wondering if we could "just slip out the side door" right after receiving communion!  Faith is a gift, and the centurion can show us how to appreciate it.  AMEN