Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 8, 5-17
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,
but the children of the Kingdom
will be driven out into the outer darkness,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
And Jesus said to the centurion,
“You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.”
And at that very hour his servant was healed.
Jesus entered the house of Peter,
and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever.
He touched her hand, the fever left her,
and she rose and waited on him.
When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:
He took away our infirmities
and bore our diseases.
Happiness and Faith
1) I will come. Jesus shows closeness and readiness. He invites us to act this way, like Him, with compassion towards the suffering and the needy. We are invited to help those in need. A good question to begin considering this point is whether you act promptly to help someone in need. We shouldn’t evade helping others. Jesus asks us to help solve the problems of those who need us. Like He did, we must help in silence, without seeking validation from others.
2) Only say the word. The humility of this centurion is enormous, and he puts Jesus in his rightful position. He knows that Jesus has the power, while he has no power before God. He does not negotiate with God but rather surrenders to God’s will. You and I need to learn from this today, not to negotiate nor give orders, telling God how to do things or making deals like: ‘God if you do this, I
promise you I will do that.’ We shouldn’t be doing that in our relationship with Him.
3) Faith. Life is hard and difficult, but faith is the essence of our life and makes everything better, easier, and more bearable. Faith allows us to open our eyes and gives us the opportunity that many times we do not see. Today, let’s ask Jesus for the gift of faith in order to be able to help solve the needs of our brothers and sisters when they come to us. Ask God for faith to accept to do what’s possible and to believe that God does the impossible. Also, ask for faith to search for true happiness, which Jesus came to give us. Let us ask for the gift of faith today.
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Always remember that something good is on the way.
