Today we hear about the need to offer prayers and supplications for everyone in our lives. Saint Paul in the first reading “begged us” to offer prayers for our leaders and for everyone. He says, “I beg you, first of all, to make supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings for all men, for kings, and for all who are in high places, so that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all piety and chastity. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to arrive at an acknowledgment of the truth.”
How often do you and I pray for those in a position of authority, either religious or civil? How often do we pray for those in a different political spectrum from us? What is the content of our prayers?
Most of us pray for our families, friends, coworkers, strangers, etc. We pray for victims of natural disasters, but we fail to pray for those that hurts us and those who hold different political view.
In the gospel, we heard the plead of a Roman officer, a Centurion, a non-Jew, who had hundred men under his authority. No one gets such position or authority over 100 men by accident. He had earned this position of authority by working hard for many years. But when death threatened his beloved servant, the Centurion was powerless. He had no power over this illness that had taken his beloved servant to a point of death.
He came looking for Jesus and pleading for help. In the face of death this powerful man was helpless. How many rock stars and movie stars, rulers and leaders, and millionaires and billionaires, had great authority over others, but when sickness or death came to them, they had no power over it. There is only One who has power and authority over death — and His name is Jesus.
The Centurion’s prayer full of humility continue to echo and reecho over the centuries in the Christian world.
The Roman centurion’s words are echoed in our Eucharistic when we say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.”
Jesus acknowledges his remarkable faith and declares it to be greater than any faith he had found in Israel.
How is your faith? How humble is your prayer?
The Psalmist sums it all, “Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard my prayer.”
Have a wonderful week
