Faith-Prayer-Love-Saints Cyprian and Cornelius

HOMILY WEEK 24 01 _ Year I

Humble Faith Expressed through Prayer and Caring:

Memorial of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian

(1 Tm 2:1-7; Ps 18; Lk 7:1-10)

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Can you imagine Jesus saying, “Not even in the Catholic Church have I found such faith!” Would that shock you, or would you find it thought provoking?

The readings today, and the memorial we celebrate, invite us into humble faith and a life of prayer and caring.

Certainly, the main focus of today’s readings is on humble faith in Jesus. A centurion was an important figure at that time – in charge of one hundred men in the Roman military. The fact that he would make a request of an itinerant Jewish preacher, perhaps facing ridicule from his fellow officers, underlines his humble faith, as does the fact he doesn’t want to trouble Jesus to come to his house.

Jesus marvels at the humility of this centurion whose faith in Jesus is so strong he has no need to have him even come to his home. Relying on his own experience of exercising authority, he trusts Jesus can heal his slave “sight unseen” from a distance. And Jesus does heal his slave, remarking how the pagan Roman officer’s faith eclipsed the faith of anyone in Israel at that time.

The Church has also marvelled at the centurion’s faith, incorporating his words into the Eucharist before we receive communion – “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” We say that prayer at every Eucharist, hopefully taking into ourselves some of that humble faith of a Roman centurion.

That prayer should also cause us to pause and check our attitude towards those who are not Catholic. Is there any smugness in our thoughts and actions, thinking because we are Catholic, we are better than others? What do you think? Could it possible that today Jesus might even say, “Not even in the Catholic Church have I found such faith” in the presence of people like Corrie ten Boom whose faith in a concentration camp and forgiveness of the soldiers who oppressed the prisoners shone like a light for all to see, or in the presence of a Mary Johnson who forgave the young man who murdered her only son?

St. Paul in the first reading to Timothy adds to the dimension of faith, the dimension of prayerful caring for others. We are to care for and pray for everyone so we can live “quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness and dignity, so that others would be influenced by our example, and desire to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” The psalm adds its voice to that teaching, encouraging us to bless the Lord and praise him for saving his people.

St. Paul adds another interesting detail to the way we live out our lives as Catholic Christians. Liturgists have changed the words of the consecration from “the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for all,” to “for you and for many.” There has been some resistance and uneasiness with this change ever since, because for a great number of the faithful, it smacks of exclusivity that could border on some of that smugness.

That translation, it seems, has something to do with purists who wanted to be faithful to a literal translation of the Latin language. That is fine in its own right, but unfortunately ends up not being very faithful to the teaching of St. Paul who in the first reading, reminds us our faith is in Jesus who is the “one mediator between God and humanity, and a ransom for all.” I would think fidelity to scripture would trump fidelity to a language, and find it unfortunate that in this case it did not. Hopefully we will someday come back to greater fidelity to St. Paul.

Today the Church honors Saints Cyprian and Cornelius, who gave their lives for the faith. Cornelius was elected pope during the Decian persecution (250-251) in Rome, to replace Pope Fabian who had also been martyred. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, supported Cornelius against the efforts of Novatian to usurp him as Bishop of Rome. In 253, Cornelius was arrested and exiled, and died the same year. Cyprian was brilliant and learned, became a priest soon after his conversion, and was elected bishop in 249. He went into hiding during the Decian persecution, supporting his flock by letters. During the Valerian persecution in 257, however, he was arrested, banished and condemned to death.

An account of the martyrdom of Cyprian comes from the proconsular acts of the martyrdom of Saint Cyprian, and includes the following comment: “After the sentence (on him) was passed, a crowd of his fellow Christians said: ‘We should also be killed with him!’ There arose an uproar among the Christians, and a great mob followed after him. Cyprian was then brought out to the grounds of the Villa Sexti, where, taking off his outer cloak and kneeling on the ground, he fell before the Lord in prayer. He removed his dalmatic and gave it to the deacons, and then stood erect while waiting for the executioner. When the executioner arrived, Cyprian told his friends to give the man twenty-five gold pieces. Cloths and napkins were being spread out in front of him by the brethren. Then the blessed Cyprian covered his eyes with his own hands, but when he was unable to tie the ends of the linen himself, the priest Julian and the sub-deacon Julian fastened them for him.

In this way the blessed Cyprian suffered, and his body was laid out at a nearby place to satisfy the curiosity of the pagans. During the night Cyprian’s body was triumphantly borne away in a procession of Christians who, praying and bearing tapers and torches, carried the body to the cemetery of the governor Macrobius Candidianus which lies on the Mappalian Way near the fish ponds.” May the example of Saints Cyprian and Cornelius inspire us to lives of greater simplicity, deeper faith, contemplative prayer and sincere caring.

Ultimately, it is the Eucharist that is paramount, to be celebrated with humble faith that seeks to live out the teaching of St. Paul, caring and praying for others as we lead peaceful lives of godliness and dignity.