Such Faith
Monday of the Twenty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
Luke 7:1-10 - When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.” And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “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. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
The centurion, a Roman, is not a Jew. He is obviously a man of goodness and virtue, though, if even the Jews credit him for being positive and open to their religion. But more than that, He is a man of humility and great faith. He has such faith, in fact, that the Gospel claims that Jesus “was amazed”! Where else do we hear such tribute from the Lord Himself?! The centurion understands that Jesus is doing the will of God, and he believes that Jesus has the power to heal his servant.
But there is more to this man’s faith. The centurion believes that Jesus has the power to heal his servant, not with some special formula or special action, but that Jesus possesses the power in Himself. He believes that Jesus can heal simply with His word. It is this humility and this faith that the Church asks us to have when we repeat the centurion’s words before we receive Christ in the Eucharist. We should be filled with humility, “I am not worthy.” And we should be filled with faith that by Christ, we shall be healed.
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above. (Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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