The photo: simply to offer a cool refreshment on this hot day.Today's gospel present us with another example of an act of faith. This time it is a Centurion. He approached Jesus. His servant is seriously ill. In his words, the Centurion was asking for Jesus' healing help. True to his mission Jesus tells the man, "I will come and heal him." Immediately the man makes Jesus know that all he has to do is "speak the word." The healing will happen.
In the near future we will be changing the words we recite just prior to the beginning of the Communion Rite section of the Mass. The "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, only say the word and I will be healed" will be changing backwards to what it was when many of us were just growing up in the Church.
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only come under my roof." This will be the retroed phrase. Regardless of the liking or disliking of the phrase, what is important is our understanding of what is going on. Under my roof means into all that I am. We are saying that we are not worthy to share in the meal. We are a sinful people. We are broken. We need healing. But Jesus wants us to come to him, to let him come to us. It is his mission to us.
In the home, it is the kitchen that is the gathering place for many of us. In the church, it is the table of the Eucharist where we gather. In a home the most important thing is to make sure that is is filled with love. It is the table of the Eucharist where we come together to partake of the love that God gives us. He gives us himself to be our food, to fill us with his love. Just as "Food has been and always will be an important part of bringing people together in search of God and enlightenment" (Back to the Family, Art Smith -- a wonderful new cookbook with meaningful reflections from the chef himself.), so, too, it is the Eucharist, the food from heaven that draws us around the altar to find God and our own enlightenment.
In the near future we will be changing the words we recite just prior to the beginning of the Communion Rite section of the Mass. The "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, only say the word and I will be healed" will be changing backwards to what it was when many of us were just growing up in the Church.
Lord, I am not worthy to receive you but only come under my roof." This will be the retroed phrase. Regardless of the liking or disliking of the phrase, what is important is our understanding of what is going on. Under my roof means into all that I am. We are saying that we are not worthy to share in the meal. We are a sinful people. We are broken. We need healing. But Jesus wants us to come to him, to let him come to us. It is his mission to us.
In the home, it is the kitchen that is the gathering place for many of us. In the church, it is the table of the Eucharist where we gather. In a home the most important thing is to make sure that is is filled with love. It is the table of the Eucharist where we come together to partake of the love that God gives us. He gives us himself to be our food, to fill us with his love. Just as "Food has been and always will be an important part of bringing people together in search of God and enlightenment" (Back to the Family, Art Smith -- a wonderful new cookbook with meaningful reflections from the chef himself.), so, too, it is the Eucharist, the food from heaven that draws us around the altar to find God and our own enlightenment.
