I Am Not Worthy That You Should Enter Under My Roof - Jesus Heals the Centurion's Servant

I Am Not Worthy That You Should Enter Under My Roof
Jesus Heals the Centurion's Servant 

"When he 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."  (Matthew 8:5-10)

In today's Gospel, Jesus is approached by the leader of the pagan enemy's army, a Roman centurion, who asks him to heal his servant lying paralyzed at home. Jesus' response to the Roman centurion is to go to his home to cure his servant.  Yet the centurion, aware that it is against Jewish law for a Jew to enter the house of a Gentile, responds "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed."

It is these faith-filled words of the Roman centurion that we recite in the Eucharistic liturgy just before we receive Holy Communion.  As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:  "Before so great a sacrament, the faithful can only echo humbly and with ardent faith the words of the centurion:...'Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul will be healed." (CCC #1386)

"Like the centurion, we acknowledge our unworthiness to have Jesus enter under the roof of our souls.  Yet just as the centurion believed Jesus was able to heal his servant, so we trust that Jesus can heal us as he becomes the most intimate guest of our soul in Holy Communion." (1)
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Art
Jesus Heals the Centurion's Servant - Paolo Veronese
Centurion Kneels at the Feet of Jesus - Joseph - Marie Vien
(1) The Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri, page 127