Will You Let Him In?

First Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-26, 33

Brothers and sisters:
In giving this instruction, I do not praise the fact
that your meetings are doing more harm than good.
First of all, I hear that when you meet as a Church
there are divisions among you,
and to a degree I believe it;
there have to be factions among you
in order that also those who are approved among you
may become known.
When you meet in one place, then,
it is not to eat the Lord’s supper,
for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper,
and one goes hungry while another gets drunk.
Do you not have houses in which you can eat and drink?
Or do you show contempt for the Church of God
and make those who have nothing feel ashamed?
What can I say to you? Shall I praise you?
In this matter I do not praise you.

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my Body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my Blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:7-8A, 8B-9, 10, 17

R. (1 Cor 11:26b) Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.
May all who seek you
exult and be glad in you
And may those who love your salvation
say ever, “The LORD be glorified.”
R. Proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes again.

Gospel: Luke 7:1-10

When Jesus had finished all his words to the people,
he entered Capernaum.
A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die,
and he was valuable to him.
When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him,
asking him to come and save the life of his slave.
They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying,
“He deserves to have you do this for him,
for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”
And Jesus went with them,
but when he was only a short distance from the house,
the centurion sent friends to tell him,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I too am a person 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 at him
and, turning, said to the crowd following him,
“I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”
When the messengers returned to the house,
they found the slave in good health.

NAB

Growing up, I remember receiving phone calls at home from time to time that unexpected guests wanted to stop-in for a quick visit. Upon hanging up, my mom would rush to tidy the house. Mind you, my mom has always kept one of the cleanest homes I’ve been in, but there was just something about knowing someone was coming unexpectedly that sent her (and therefore, us) into a whirlwind of cleaning everything in sight. Then, thirty minutes later, when the knock on the door came, I don’t know if she really felt better about the condition of the home or just a bit more frazzled. As I child, my thought was, “They don’t even care what our home looks like” as I moped around with these new chores to complete. I vowed I’d never do that . . . but guess where I am today?

I have become my mother. I want my home to look as if five young children don’t live here. I want my home to feel worthy of the guests’ presence. Deep down, I have a feeling I also don’t want to be measured by the cleanliness of my home. It’s my pride, and I want to have it all together.

In all of this talk about my earthly home, it’s really the state of my interior home . . . the one in which I house Christ . . . that matters.

In today’s Gospel, the Centurion calls out, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. BUT! If He but says the word, his servant shall be healed. He knows the power of Christ, yet in his shame, he cannot bear to have Him in his home.

Every Sunday (or vigil), every Mass, we utter these words before Christ enters our bodies through the Holy Eucharist: “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

My soul. Our souls. Christ’s healing power is unimaginable. Whatever it is we are facing, whatever torments us, whatever is keeping Jesus knocking on the door of our hearts rather than entering, know that He can heal all. And, He will.

He can heal all. And He will. // @thefiskfilesClick to tweet

Regardless of how hard we try, we will never be truly worthy of Him. But we don’t have to be—that’s where He comes in—to heal, to love and to dwell within our interior homes. Will you let Him in?

photo credit

Britt Fisk is the wife of Jeremy and mother of five young kids. She spends her days living simply in the-middle-of-nowhere-New Mexico helping with the family beef cattle operation. You can find out more about her here.