seeking what we're not worthy of

Today we read in Luke 6:39-7:10 from the One Year Bible. We hear the Roman centurion tell Jesus, "I'm not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed." And we borrow that phrase into the mass, where we say the exact same thing about the Eucharist - that we're unworthy for it to enter under the roof of our body, but if He only says the word, our souls will be healed.

And we and the centurion are both right. We ARE unworthy for Him to come under our roofs. (In case you're wondering, roofs and rooves are both correct, but "rooves" is considered antiquated.) But that doesn't mean we should send Him away. We need to avoid the mistake that Peter made when he realized how unworthy HE was for Jesus to come to him. He said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man."

So are we all sinful people. But sending Jesus away is the worst thing we can do. The best course of action is to heartily repent of the sins that He wants more than anything to forgive and heal us of, and then welcome Him under our unworthy roofs. That's the only way we'll be healed. That's the only way we'll become the people He created us to be.

That's the only way to be truly joyful.

God, thank You for forgiving us our sins, and coming under our unworthy roofs.