Welcome -

E SAY IT SO OFTEN – at every Mass, in fact, but how often do we try to do something about it?

The words come from Chapter 7 of  Luke’s Gospel: ‘A centurion had a slave who was dear to him, who was sick and at the point of death. When he heard of Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his slave…..’Jesus went with them to the centurion’s house, but as he approached the centurion sent friends to him, saying: ‘Lord…. I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.’ Jesus marvelled at the faith of the man and when those friends returned to the house they found the slave well.

Jesus Made Us Worthy

When Jesus died on the cross, God accepted his death as the sacrifice for our sins. In other words, the death of Jesus made us worthy to approach the Table of the Lord to receive his Body and Blood in Holy Communion. However - and there is always a ‘however’ isn’t there – the sacrifice of Jesus  did  not  mean that there was no longer sin in the world. Unfortunately, sin abounds.

Looking again at the story of the centurion we see three things: first, that the centurion believed that Jesus could heal his servant; second, that he was humble and compassionate; third, that he felt unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus.

When we come to Jesus in the Sacrament of Confession, we believe that he can heal us. But just like going to the doctor, we cannot be healed unless we tell him what is wrong. We must tell Jesus, through the Priest, where we have failed, where we have sinned, and that we are sorry. And because it is Jesus we are speaking to, he knows all our thoughts, so it is no use trying to hide anything or wrap it up in disguise. A doctor couldn’t heal a broken arm if we told him we had a headache, could he? We have to be honest, humble and repentant.

When we say the Lord’s Prayer we say: ‘…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ This means that, if we expect Jesus to be compassionate to us and forgive us, we have to be compassionate to those who have offended us. There is no other way. To the extent that you forgive, so will you be forgiven.

The centurion had a slave who we are told was ‘dear’ to him and that when he became ill, and close to death, the centurion, despite his position and power, was humble enough to take the trouble to find healing for him. God longs to heal us, to help us to become ‘holy’ – whole in body, mind and spirit. Jesus didn’t heal the servant because of his response, but because of his master in whom he recognised a compassionate and well-respected man.

The third point is that the centurion felt unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus. It used to be the case that we did not come to Holy Communion unless we had been to Confession. The emphasis might not have been perfect, but it helped us to examine our lives more frequently. Nowadays, there is a long line of people at each Mass waiting to receive Jesus in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, while the queues for Confession have become shorter and shorter.

Perhaps we think that God should ‘zap’ us, and we would all be perfect. However, (and there’s that word again) God is looking for the response from us. Jesus invited many people to follow him but had to watch sadly as many turned away. He would force no-one but accept everyone.

Yes, the Lord will heal us, but maybe he is hoping for a little more from us - for the belief that his sacrifice paid the price for our sins, for the humility to acknowledge our sins, confess them and be sorry for them. For when we do this then they are forgotten by God, blocked from his memory, never considered again. In that case we are indeed worthy to stand in his presence, to welcome him under our roof, to rejoice as we receive him in Holy Communion.

Perhaps God is hoping that because we believe in him and in his love for us - shown to us by allowing his Son to die for our sins - that we will respond by living lives worthy of that love, by turning from sin, by being people who forgive others, by reaching out to those in need. Jesus recognised the worthiness of the centurion to receive healing for his servant; he saw it in the people who he sent to him, in their respect and regard for the centurion who was their master, and obviously a fair master.

Perhaps, most of all, Jesus wants us to believe that we, ourselves are worthy. Although we can never be perfect, Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross to embrace the whole world. He believed that we were worth dying for; he believed that the price he paid for our sin was worth it; he believed that love is strong enough to overcome all evil and worth dying for; he believed in you.