THE WORD
Is 4, 2-6 / Mt 8,5-11
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully. He 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. 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 and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.”
IN OTHER WORDS
“Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” The centurion uttered these words in faith before Jesus as he requested Him to heal his servant. The same words we declare before we receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, showing that we personally need God’s healing. Though we are not worthy to receive Him, in faith we seek and trust Him. For in love Jesus truly gives Himself to us. As Pope Francis in His Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium says, “The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of Sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” Let us approach God full of trust like that of the centurion and of Blessed Maria Hellena Stollenwerk whose memorial we celebrate today.
Bl. Helena, co-foundress of the Mission Congregation Servants of the Holy Spirit, trusting in God and filled with the longing to be sent to China as a missionary, left her home and inheritance in Rollesbroich in the German Eifel. She persevered for seven years, working as a kitchen maid with three other women in the Society of the Divine Word mission house, hoping for the fulfillment of their missionary vocation. On December 8, 1889, she co-founded the mission congregation of the Servants of the Holy Spirit.
Full of trust and in faith let us encounter Jesus in the Eucharistic celebration and welcome Him to our life that we may share His Word and His mission as we say “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
- Fr. Dennis Manzana, SVD | Taiwan, ROC
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
