In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Saturday 12 September 2020

Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Word for today
The Gospel of Luke 7:1-10

Humility and knowledge

Humility without knowledge is a source of misery and submission. Knowledge without humility is a source of fanaticism and arrogant pride. The centurion did not know Jesus personally, but it almost seemed to know him from within. The centurion knows, sees, understands, and is aware. In his own way, in his inner world, in his perceptive intuition, he is perfectly aware that Jesus is God, the Son of God, the supreme Lord of all things whom all creation obeys. The centurion knows all this, as if Jesus was already inside of him, as if Jesus had already been living in his house, under his roof for a long time. The centurion is knowledgeable and yet he is also humble. He is not bashful, shy, miserable, submissive, resigned, but humble, deeply humble, and recognizes roles, dimensions, hierarchies, strengths and the authorities at play. Since he recognizes Jesus as the omnipotent Lord of everything and himself as an imperfect, limited, poor, man, the centurion invites Jesus not  to enter under his roof as it was unnecessary. The child would be healed nevertheless  because the Master's miraculous power is not dependent on space or time.
When knowledge and humility are joined they generate the intelligence of faith, true faith: a strong faith that remains humble, a faith that is unrestrainable but not fanatical, a faith that sees without eyes, a faith that understands well and beyond, without pride. It is a faith that moves mountains without using force, which makes the impossible possible, without placing pressure. It is an intelligent faith, kind, acute and immediate: like the the faith of the centurion. The faith was so extraordinary that Jesus himself was amazed. In fact,  Jesus admired him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said: "I ​​tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!"