Saturday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
At every Mass, before receiving Holy Communion, we do something remarkable: we repeat the words of a pagan centurion. Right after the priest repeats the words of St. John the Baptist—“Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world,” (John 1:29)—and John in Revelation—“Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb,” (Revelation 19:9)—we recite words reminiscent of those the centurion speaks in our Gospel today: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” In our Gospel the centurion is begging for the life of his beloved servant; in the Mass we are begging for eternal life, and it is fitting, for we are preparing to receive the Bread of Heaven, of which Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” (John 6:54). Yet we see, touch, taste, and smell what appears to us merely as bread and wine: only our ears match what we believe: “This is my Body…This is my Blood…”
Thus, it is appropriate that not only do we repeat these humble words of the centurion, but that we repeat the words of the person who displayed the greatest faith Jesus had ever seen. The centurion—a Gentile, a pagan! —had such faith in Jesus that he knew Jesus could simply command that the servant be healed, and he would be.
Do we have such faith? Do we trust that Jesus can and will heal our soul? Notice we say that He need not enter under our roof, and yet He deigns and desires to do so. He does not enter the house of the centurion of great faith, working His miracle from afar; in Holy Communion He enters under our roof, into our hearts, out of sheer gratuity and love. Indeed “…many will come from the east and west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven,” but in Holy Communion Jesus comes from Heaven to recline within us at the supper of the Lamb.
We are not worthy! Yet our Jesus loves us this much.