RBWords

     These words should be familiar to us from the celebration of the Eucharist.  We say them just before we file out of the pews to receive communion.  The centurion who first uttered them was neither Jew nor Christian, but a Roman soldier, who would have at least subscribed to the civil religion of Rome which made Caesar a divinity.  One thing the centurion did understand, however, was authority and the word of a command.  He had to obey the leader above him and he could command the obedience of those subject to him.  It was a simple matter of command.  

     The centurion had something else as well.  He believed that Jesus could heal his servant.  He may not have believed more than that, but his faith amazed Jesus who compared it favorably to the faith he encountered among his fellow Jews.  When we get into that communion line after saying the words of the centurion, what do we believe?  Pope Francis has referred to communion as "medicine for the sinner and no a reward for the elite."  Where are we on that spectrum?  AMEN