Lord I Am Not Worthy!

Just prior to receiving our Lord in the Eucharist at Mass we say, "Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I will be healed."

The following is the scripture passage from Luke's gospel from which our response at Mass is derived. It is a beautiful story of the great humility, reverence, and faith demonstrated by the Roman Centurion who sought help from our Lord!

“When he had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 A centurion 3 there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, "He deserves to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us." 6 And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. 4 7 Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he does it." 9 When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." 10 When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.” (Luke 7:1-10)