2 December 1991
Antanimora, Madagascar

My dear Confreres,

I do not think we would be far off the mark if we said that the attitude of Our Lord's disciples towards the centurion of today's Gospel was ambiguous. To begin with, he was a centurion, an army man. Perhaps he was a centurion in the Roman army and, if he was, he was part of an army of occupation. Is an army of occupation popular anywhere in the world? I doubt it. So deep down in the breasts of Our Lord's friends there would very likely have been sentiments of antipathy towards him. On the other hand, St. Luke's version of this event underlines the point that this centurion was rather unusual; he had built a synagogue at his own expense, even though he was a Gentile. So people thought well of him, and they supported the request he made to Our Lord.

What can we say of Our Lord's attitude towards the centurion? He showed respect and compassion for him. More than that, Our Lord manifested admiration for the simplicity and authenticity of the centurion's faith. Our Lord's gaze penetrated behind the military uniform into the heart of the centurion, who was concerned about the health of his servant or slave. Our Lord was capable of detaching the centurion from his cohort and of seeing him as a sensitive, compassionate individual.

When we immerse ourselves in the social problems of our day, we tend to draw up armies of people and label them, so that we may command them. It may facilitate our planning to a certain degree, but we run the risk of seeing people only in categories of good and evil. We run the risk, too, of dividing the world into well-intentioned people and badly-intentioned people. The reality is that there is evil in the hearts of good men and good in the hearts of evil men. I often feel that there is need to tune more finely our assessments of people, so that we will not divide the world into two categories: of black and white, of good and evil.

What an extraordinary exhibition of the mind of Our Lord we find in today's Gospel! He was truly God, yet He could stoop down in admiration of the faith of the centurion. Quite simply and sincerely and humbly, he expresses admiration for the goodness and faith of the centurion.

It is a wonderful grace to be able to see and admire real goodness in other people. Our Lord did not hesitate to express to others His admiration at the faith and goodness of the centurion. Speak to others more often about the good you see in them. It is a grace of God to be able to admire good qualities in others which, perhaps, we do not have ourselves. It is a grace of God to be able to admire and wonder, and it is wonder that keeps us young. It is wonder that we see in the eyes of a child and, unless we become as little children, we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.