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Gospel: 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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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We should all aspire to be like the centurion in today’s Gospel.
For example, Luke tells us that he’s a Gentile, but he built the local Jewish synagogue; meaning, he built a house of worship for a religion different from his own.
He’s also a high-ranking military officer, yet he cares for his servant who occupies the lowest place in society and is deathly ill.
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This is a man who cares for people whose faith and social status are not the same as his.
And for his efforts, he helps preserve peace in his community.
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What would this centurion do if he were part of our world today? How would he treat people whose politics, religion, or social status were different from his own?
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May we follow his example, and find ways to care for everyone. Doing so will bring peace to our nation, and indeed, to our world.
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Image credits: (1) ResearchGate (2) Archdiocese of Malta (3) Kathy McAfee