Years ago one Monday morning, I was just about to leave my parish after the morning Mass to go home to visit my folks. As I was about to get into my car to drive off, I noticed a car enter the compound of the church. A couple came out of the car and rushed towards me. They looked distressed and the wife said, “Father, I am Catholic and my husband is not. Our son, who is not baptised, was just involved in a serious road accident, and he is now at hospital. The doctors have told us that he has little chance of survival. Could you come and say a prayer for him please?” The husband interjected: “Please father, pray for him. Ask God to heal him.” I could see the anxiousness on their faces. So I obliged and met them at the hospital. While praying for the young man, all of a sudden, his breathing began to stabilise and he began to drift back into consciousness. His parents were shocked and overjoyed when their son opened his eyes and his condition improved. When the doctor came to examine him, the doctor was speechless, as the young man, though still injured, seemed to be on the road to recovery. Shortly after, the young man made a full recovery. The young man and his father attended RCIA and were baptised on Easter Vigil.
In today’s gospel, Jesus was amazed at the deep faith of the centurion who was a Gentile. Even though the centurion was not a follower of Jesus, he still believed that Jesus can heal. Because of such faith, Jesus healed the centurion’s servant. Just like in the Gospel, the parents of the young man had faith that Jesus would heal the young man, especially the young man’s father who was not a Catholic or even a Christian at that time. Because of such faith, the young man was healed.
What can we learn from this? When we have faith in God, God can make many things possible. All we need to do is to trust and believe that God will help us, not according to our time and our way, but in His time and His way. May we have faith like that centurion, a faith that continues to rely and trust in God’s power even if things do not happen the way we want and the time we expect.