Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 2, 2019
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.”
When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven.”
The centurion in the passage amazes me with his faithfulness. As an employee of the Roman empire, we would think of him as being the least likely to display such faith in Jesus and yet, he makes a bold assertion: “Lord…only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”
Unlike the centurion, I have struggled with faith. Last year I felt like the Lord put me in an isolated place and confronted me regarding my faith. I experienced crushing losses, the pain of which felt insurmountable to me. Then I realized I had a decision to make: either trust that the Lord will deliver me through my pain or wallow in my grief and fear. While I wrestled with this choice, I examined my life and noticed how often I made my problems bigger than God instead of claiming the victory of God over my problems. I professed the faith but, in actuality, I was not trusting in that faith in my daily life. I worried and feared constantly – I had anxiety about living.
In contrast, the centurion knew in his heart that his petition would be granted. He did not want or need Jesus to enter his household for his request to be fulfilled.
After my confrontation with the Lord, I decided to trust and walk in the faith that God would restore me. I am deeply grateful for the gifts my faith has brought me. I now trust that God is always with me. Leaning into faith may not be a pleasant or easy process; however, it is one that leads to joy and blessed assurance.
I pray that we grow to have the faith of the centurion in difficult times and that we continue to persevere through our faith.
Prayer
What an extraordinary man that centurion must have been. He loved his slave, which was totally against the grain of his culture. He approached Jesus knowing his fellow soldiers would probably ridicule and mock him. He was humble and respectful, unusual for a soldier of an occupying force. May we approach you, Jesus, with the centurion’s expectant yet confident faith, knowing that you will show us your mercy and give us your help. We ask this in your name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
The ancient Roman Martyrology, which lists the early Christians who died for the faith, contains the names of St. Bibiana and her family. Aside from this early testament, we do not know much for sure about these martyrs.
The stories that have been handed down tell of a Roman family—the couple Flavian and Dafrosa, and their two daughters, Demetria and Bibiana, all of whom were Christians who lived their faith with zeal, and were arrested in one of the persecutions of the Roman empire.
Flavian was marked on the face with a hot iron and banished from Rome to a labor camp, where he died from exertion, and his wife, Dafrosa, was beheaded. Demetria and Bibiana lost everything that they owned and were forced to live in dire poverty for five months. They stayed in their house and used the time for fasting and prayer.
Finally, the sisters were brought into court. Demetria confessed her faith before the judge, then collapsed and died on the spot. Bibiana was sentenced to “reformation” under a mentor of sorts, who tried to convince her to denounce her faith. Bibiana stayed faithful, and was then tortured and killed. Her body was left in the open for wild beasts to tear apart, but it was not touched.
The relics of Bibiana and her father, Flavian (whose feast day is Dec. 22), rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. A basilica named after St. Bibiana was dedicated to her in the fifth century and still stands in Rome today.
St. Bibiana, who suffered and was killed with her family for her faithfulness—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Bibiana is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Last accessed November 21, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
