DAILY- HOMILY

We can learn a great deal about values and value-based behavior from "pagans," even though some of us may sometimes pray for them with a great deal of condescension. A given pagan culture may proclaim values which we, in a Christian setting, judge inhuman. Yet the individual pagan in his behavior may reject the inhuman values and show himself to be deeply human. On the other hand, Christianity proclaims many values which stress the dignity of the human person— yet how often Christians in their behavior deny and negate human dignity.

The Roman centurion in today's gospel belonged to a culture that looked on a slave as a tool - his life depended on his master's whim. The slave had no human rights, no human dignity. The efficient Roman farmer, for instance, was advised to examine his farm instruments and his slaves, once a year and throw away those that were no longer useful.

Yet the Roman centurion in the gospel "holds his slave in high regard." Because of his regard for his slave, the centurion is willing to humble himself before Jesus and the Jews in order to win a cure for him.

Let us ask ourselves today: do we, as a nation, give expression to our Christian commitment to the value of the human person when we continue to tolerate widespread poverty and its consequences, subhuman shelters, untended illnesses, mental and physical retardation, untimely deaths? Do we Christians in any way approach the Christian mentality that Jesus found in the Centurion?