Daily Gospel Reflection
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November 28, 2022
When Jesus 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 man 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.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven.”
Reflection
Nobody prepares you to be a good boss. I never took classes in college on it. I never thought about it when climbing the career ladder. Then I got the job and promotion, and I was “the boss.”
Suddenly a team of people was looking to me for direction and support. I still had my bosses, too, holding me accountable. I was sitting in the big middle seat, thinking of all the bad managers I had experienced before and worrying that I would end up like them.
I have passionate and thoughtful people who report to me. Upon taking the helm of our organization, I realized how much my job would be to care for them. Are they meeting goals? Are they overworked? Are they burning out?
As a boss, you inevitably learn intimate details of your staff. You hear about their struggles outside office hours as they ask for time. You know their salaries and how much they must stretch for their families. You know that they’re looking at you, wondering if they can trust you or follow you or if you know what you’re doing.
A centurion was not a high-ranking official. They would have reported up and down a chain, a middle manager. I like to imagine Jesus at this moment recognizing not just the centurion’s faith in his powers but also his humility and care for those reporting to him. This was not a man looking for growth up the Roman rungs. This was a compassionate leader who cared deeply for the people in his charge and was humbled at how they followed him.
Jesus saw that the centurion was a good boss.
Prayer
I appeal to you, O Master, to draw from beneath the surface of my own self-assuredness an ever- keener awareness of the suffering around me. Though my dwelling place may not seem a worthy abode for the overwhelming breadth of your presence, may others find there a place to wait a while with me and find a humble expression of your loving compassion. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Catherine Laboure is famous for spreading devotion to Jesus and Mary—especially through their sacred hearts—by a medal that was revealed to her in a vision.
Zoe Laboure was born in 1806 to a farm family in Burgundy, France. She was ninth of eleven children and at the age of nine, her mother died and she and a younger sister were sent to live with an aunt. Later, when other siblings left the household (some for religious life) she was forced to return to care for the household.
She never learned to read or write, and later worked as a waitress in her uncle’s café in Paris. She visited a hospital run by the Sisters of Charity, and felt a tangible call to work with the sick. She eventually joined the order, taking the name Catherine.
When she was a novice in the community, Mary appeared to Catherine three times. In one of her visions, Mary showed Catherine a medal to be worn around the neck. The medal depicts Mary as the Immaculate Conception, and has become known as the “Miraculous Medal.” On one side is an image of Mary with the words, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” On the other side is a depiction of the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary. She told Catherine to have medals made as a source of prayer and grace. Devotion to the Miraculous Medal has since spread worldwide.
Catherine died after many long years as a nun, working in kitchens and gardens and taking care of elderly people in a nursing home. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Catherine Laboure, faithful visionary who passed on to us the image of the Miraculous Medal—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Catherine Laboure is in the public domain. Last accessed November 15, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
