👑 On this third Sunday after Epiphany, the Church celebrates the continuity of the manifestation of the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, revealing His absolute dominion over wounded human nature and infirmities. The liturgy presents the Divine Savior descending from the mountain to extend His purifying hand over the leper, symbol of the soul stained by sin, and to heal with the authority of His Word the servant of the centurion, prefiguring the vocation of the Gentiles to salvation. It is a day marked by hope and the omnipotence of divine mercy which, in Baptism and Penance, works spiritual healing in us, transforming our misery into the glory of grace, while the Epistle exhorts us to live in harmony and humility, reflections of the peace that Christ brings to the world.
🎶 Introit (Ps 96, 7-8 | ib. 1)
Adoráte Deum, omnes Angeli ejus: audívit, et lætáta est Sion: et exsultavérunt fíliæ Judae. Ps. Dóminus regnávit, exsúltet terra: læténtur ínsulæ multæ.
Adore God, all you His Angels: Sion heard, and was glad: and the daughters of Juda rejoiced. Ps. The Lord hath reigned, let the earth rejoice: let many islands be glad.
✉️ Epistle (Rom 12, 16-21)
Fratres: Nolíte esse prudéntes apud vosmetípsos: nulli malum pro malo reddéntes: providéntes bona non tantum coram Deo, sed étiam coram ómnibus homínibus. Si fíeri potest, quod ex vobis est, cum ómnibus homínibus pacem habéntes: Non vosmetípsos defendéntes, caríssimi, sed date locum iræ. Scriptum est enim: Mihi vindícta: ego retríbuam, dicit Dóminus. Sed si esuríerit inimícus tuus, ciba illum: si sitit, potum da illi: hoc enim fáciens, carbónes ignis cóngeres super caput ejus. Noli vinci a malo, sed vince in bono malum.
Brethren: Be not wise in your own conceits. To no man rendering evil for evil. Providing good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men. Revenge not yourselves, my dearly beloved; but give place unto wrath, for it is written: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. But if thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink. For, doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good.
📖 Gospel (Mt 8, 1-13)
In illo témpore: Cum descendísset Jesus de monte, secútæ sunt eum turbæ multæ: et ecce, leprósus véniens adorábat eum, dicens: Dómine, si vis, potes me mundáre. Et exténdens Jesus manum, tétigit eum, dicens: Volo. Mundáre. Et conféstim mundáta est lepra ejus. Et ait illi Jesus: Vide, némini díxeris: sed vade, osténde te sacerdóti, et offer munus, quod præcépit Móyses, in testimónium illis. Cum autem introísset Caphárnaum, accéssit ad eum centúrio, rogans eum et dicens: Dómine, puer meus jacet in domo paralýticus, et male torquetur. Et ait illi Jesus: Ego véniam, et curábo eum. Et respóndens centúrio, ait: Dómine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanábitur puer meus. Nam et ego homo sum sub potestáte constitútus, habens sub me mílites, et dico huic: Vade, et vadit; et alii: Veni, et venit; et servo meo: Fac hoc, et facit. Audiens autem Jesus, mirátus est, et sequéntibus se dixit: Amen, dico vobis, non inveni tantam fidem in Israël. Dico autem vobis, quod multi ab Oriénte et Occidénte vénient, et recúmbent cum Abraham et Isaac et Jacob in regno cœlórum: fílii autem regni ejiciéntur in ténebras exterióres: ibi erit fletus et stridor déntium. Et dixit Jesus centurióni: Vade et, sicut credidísti, fiat tibi. Et sanátus est puer in illa hora.
At that time, when Jesus was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him: and behold a leper came and adored Him, saying: Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean. And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying: I will. Be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith to him: See thou tell no man: but go, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. And when He had entered into Capharnaum, there came to Him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying: Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and is grievously tormented. And Jesus saith to him: I will come and heal him. And the centurion, making answer, said: Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man subject to authority, having under me soldiers; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. And Jesus hearing this, marveled; and said to them that followed Him: Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel. And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven: but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into the exterior darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said to the centurion: Go, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee. And the servant was healed at the same hour.
🕯️ The humility that attracts divine healing
🛐 The Gospel of this Sunday confronts us with two sublime manifestations of Christ's mercy, answering human misery with the omnipotence of His love. First, we see the leper, figure of the soul disfigured by original and actual sin, who approaches not with demands, but with total submission to the divine will: "Lord, if Thou wilt". Saint Augustine teaches us that sin is a leprosy that isolates man from the community of saints, and only the touch of Christ — prefiguring the sacraments — can restore lost integrity. The Lord's immediate response, "I will. Be thou made clean", reveals that God ardently desires our salvation; He descended from the mountain of His divinity to touch our wounded humanity. Next, we encounter the centurion, a Gentile, whose faith draws from the Heart of Jesus a very rare praise. His declaration, "Lord, I am not worthy", became the preparatory prayer of the whole Church before Holy Communion. By acknowledging his unworthiness, he became worthy to receive the miracle, for, as Saint Augustine observes, "counting himself unworthy that Christ should enter into his doors, he was counted worthy that Christ should enter into his heart" (Sermon 62). This humility of the centurion connects perfectly with Saint Paul's exhortation in the Epistle: "Be not wise in your own conceits". True Christian wisdom lies in recognizing our spiritual paralysis and our inability to save ourselves, trusting entirely in the authority of the Word of God. Just as the centurion believed that a simple word from Jesus would suffice to overcome distance and disease, we are called to believe that divine grace can overcome any obstacle in our lives, overcoming evil with good and transforming our unworthiness into a dwelling place of the living God.
See English version of the critical articles here.
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