in the last 70 years this has changed. now we say: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof; but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”
the two are completely different.
the centurion did not ask Jesus to heal him. He asked Jesus to heal his servant. the centurion knew that he was unworthy to ask Jesus for anything for himself.
today, during mass before communion, we ask Jesus to heal us, making us worthy. this is totally different from what the centurion said.
in all four gospel accounts (Mt. 26:26-30, Mk. 14:22-26, Lk. 22:14-20 and Jn.) Jesus instructs his apostles to "...eat My Body...drink My Blood...do this in remembrance of Me."
nowhere does Jesus say "only if you're worthy".
when I was a child many didn't receive communion on sunday because they felt that they were unworthy, not having gone to confession the day before.
today, many more go to communion. have they figured it out--despite the church? do they realize that we are all unworthy? do they realize that Jesus' command to us to eat His Body, to drink His Blood and to remember Him is not conditioned on our being worthy? do they realize that Jesus only wants us to do what He asks us to do?
the catholic church shouldn't mess with the Word of God.
no human knows the heart and mind of God. this includes priests, bishops, popes, theologians, prophets, saints, or any other human being, with the exception of Jesus (fully human as well as fully divine) and His mother, who is and was perfectly obedient to the will of God. For any other human being to presume that he or she knows the mind and will of God (infallibly, as if God speaks to them differently than he speaks to any other human being) is arrogant, ignorant and heretical.
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