Today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel recounts the encounter between Christ and a centurion, an official in the Roman military, whose example of humility and faith is memorialized in every celebration of the liturgy. After Jesus offers to heal the centurion’s suffering servant, the centurion replies “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” These words likely sound familiar. During the Mass at the Invitation to Communion, we recall and reenact the faith of the centurion in our response, saying to God: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

Upon hearing the response of the centurion, Christ is moved by his expression of profound, humble faith. And so, as disciples of Christ, striving to deepen our relationship with him and to carry out the mission entrusted to us as the members of his living body on Earth, we are pointed today towards the centurion as an example of the humility and faith we seek to live by.  

One aspect of the centurion’s humble faith is its sense of dependence, which is nonetheless hopefully open to the restorative power of Christ. This is not a self-deprecating powerlessness on the part of the centurion, but a reverential recognition of the awesome capacity of God and what God can accomplish through relationship with us. In the first place, the centurion knows he must rely on Christ to heal his servant. At the same time, he recognizes that he is not entitled to Christ’s healing power or able to command him to act. He grounds his encounter with Christ in faithful dependence, having pure faith that Christ will accomplish what alone he cannot.

In this way, the centurion’s faith points to our personal dependence on God and to our communities whom he works through. As incomplete, imperfect individuals, we humbly rely on God for our fulfillment and to act through us to carry out our purpose in the world. By recalling the faith of the centurion, today and at every Mass, may we become more aware of our dependence on God and humbly turn to God for wisdom, inspiration and resilience to serve in the world.