Jesus and The Centurion

The Gospels according to Matthew (8:5-13) and Luke (7:1-10) tell of Jesus entering Capernaum a Town a little outside of Jerusalem, and being met by a Roman Centurion asking Jesus to cure his servant, slave in Luke's Gospel, and Jesus eventually effects a cure after they talk a bit. There is some differences in the retelling of the story but it is clear it is the same Centurion and the same miracle. In both Gospels Jesus is asked to cure and he  is going to go to the Centurion's house but the Centurion is well aware of the Jewish customs and it would be considered unclean for Jesus to enter under the Centurion's roof. So the Centurion says, "I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Just say the word and my servant will be healed.", he goes on to say he understands the position of being in power and as he controls those under him he knows Jesus controls the elements surrounding good and evil. Jesus is amazed at the man's faith and says "Go, as as you have believed let it be done.", Jesus then remarks at the sign of such great faith. The Centurion's words echo down through the centuries as they are said at Communion in The Catholic Mass every day, "I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Say the word and my soul shall be healed.".


Most of us in the Christian faith have heard this story many times and we are always reminded of what great faith this Roman Solider had and how faith can work wonders. There is so much more to this story though and it revolves around the Centurion. He was a representative of the greatest power on earth at the time, a victor living in a conquered land. He had many men under his command. He was a Roman, a warrior, and they were not humble nor were they very kind to the captives. Usually the Romans lorded their strength over those they dominated. It was the way of the ancient world. Yet here was a guy concerned over his servant, slave. This was unusual in and of itself but it showed him to be a loving, humane person. He had heard of Jesus as Jesus was well into his ministry. Many who had heard disregarded the news as another fad, another one of those Jewish things that was good for the people to hang onto, the opiate of the dominated. But somehow he was a man of faith. He was a friend to the Jews he knew, Luke says he helped build a synagogue for them. Apparently a man of compassion. Then he shows great concern for Jesus' reputation when he says I am not worthy for you to come to my home. It was apparent Jesus was going into his home but he didn't want Jesus to be beset with criticism for entering a Gentile's home and be called unclean. This guy was very unusual to say the least.


The Centurion probably had fought in many battles. One didn't get put in charge of a garrison unless you earned it. I will admit Israel wasn't the plum of assignments but it was an outpost where a Roman soldier could live very well and usually did taking the good out of the mouths of the Israelis. To show compassion, love and concern in those days was considered a sign of weakness, yet this Centurion showed all of this. This is why Jesus had such great respect and I think love for him. Jesus granted his request, I believe not only because of his great faith but because he saw in this Roman conqueror what he wanted to see in everyone, love, compassion, concern, justice in his dealings with others and of course faith.


We do not hear of this Centurion after this episode so we don't know if he became a follower of "The Way"
nor do we know if he went on to greater Roman glory or died at an early age. This much I do know, he certainly must be one of the many unknown Saints who are eating at the banquet of Angels at this very moment.           

The Invisible Hand (Not Economics)

Has your life ever been in a situation where it seemed that no matter what you did you had no control over what was happening to you? You had plans. You had goals. You had a sense of where you wanted to be sometime in the future. Yet somehow whenever you were making progress towards your planned ends something occurred that set you off in a different direction. At the end of the journey be it short, a few weeks, a year, many years where you ended up was not where you intended to be. It was not really what you would have envisioned in your perfect world but somehow for the time and place you have found yourself it was the best of all worlds, all things considered. Let me make this clear, it could be for a specific one time thing or something that has life changing effect upon you.

This young man, many years ago, was drafted into the Army with the hope that he would stay at Fort Dix and be near his girl and perhaps get into the Army Band. Within two weeks he was sent to Columbus Ga. for Basic Training. Georgia was as far away from New York as far as he was concerned, no weekends home, no sweet kisses to get him through the week. He wondered how this could happen. When the Cadre went to process him they didn't find his papers. A phone call to Jersey informed them he was sent there by mistake but rather than ship him back they would mail his papers and he'd be assigned to Georgia. He took his first eight weeks and came home on leave but he had to go back to take his second eight. He was not a happy camper. For the young two years is a very long time and for young love two years is an eternity. Two weeks into his second half of Basic he got called up to audition for the band as it seems that most of the band were short timers and they would need replacements quickly. He was accepted into the Band and completed his second half of basic. Because the Division was assured of staying in Georgia at least for the next year and a half and he being in the Band which did not require going out on maneuvers for weeks at a time he could get married and live off post.  They did get married. They did live off post. They started a family. The kisses were sweeter than wine. All this because his papers got lost and he was sent mistakenly a thousand miles away from where he wanted to be. Everything certainly looked messed up. But that invisible hand guided him over the uncontrollable.

This couple had their house destroyed by a disaster. At the time plans were in the works for their lives to take a turn but not with the disaster that destroyed their house. It seemed that they had lost control of their lives. But they remained as calm as they could and suddenly certain things began to fall in place. Someone they knew helped them get temporary housing which wasn't what they had before but wasn't so bad. They were planning on building an extension onto their offspring's house and had it almost approved but then some people threw a fly in the ointment causing the ruling board to place certain restrictions and requirements on them which did not make this construction feasible. An affordable house became available in the vicinity they wanted. Suddenly everything was looking a little brighter. This story hasn't ended yet but if the invisible hand
is left to its devices I am sure a lot more pleasant surprises will happen.

In her middle 50's she lost her husband. Late troubles had put some sort of blight on their marriage but they were going to stick it out. So she found herself basically alone. She had children and grandchildren but none could lighten the load. This was her experience and she was adrift in the sea of life hoping she wouldn't drown. She met someone she had known  previously who had experienced a loss too. They fell in love and married and had more than a decade of happiness. This would not have happened unless the invisible hand was gently pushing them together through a series of life's moments. The second marriage ended when he became gravely ill and passed on. But I am sure because of her previous experiences she was what he needed in his time of peril. Her story isn't over but the invisible hand hasn't let her know exactly where she is headed but if she gently relinquishes control the hand will guide her to the right situation.

They were adjusting to what seemed to them a comfortable existence. She was slowly coming to the conclusion that flying solo was going to be her choice in life. He was coming off the loss of his wife after a very draining and long illness. He figured that at his time of life going it alone wasn't such a bad idea.  Over a few years they got interested in the social media and both established a Facebook page. One day she noticed his name and realized this was a guy she knew almost a quarter a century ago when she was just a young gal in her early thirty's and he was an older man in his fifties. They were friendly for a time so she got in touch with him through Facebook. When he first received the notice he didn't recognize the name so he checked her Facebook profile and realized she was the same young lady that used to spend some lunch times with him. He responded. They met for lunch. They met again and though it seemed so foolish considering the age difference they kept meeting. Soon it became apparent to them that flying solo wasn't really the way to go. Without realizing it the invisible hand was pushing them together into a loving relationship. So without questioning, without fully realizing it they went with the flow. There is no question in their minds that they are in love but where the invisible hand will finally lead them is unknown and that's OK too. Why question everything? Why not just enjoy the ride and let whatever is happening happen.  

Adam Smith in his "The Wealth of Nations" used the metaphor of the invisible hand to say that if you  \leave the markets alone they will channel self interest towards socially desirable ends. I believe that is so but the problem is we humans never leave anything alone. Somehow we have to step in and control everything usually to our own self interests and gain. I am not saying we should not plan or have goals rather that when our plans and goals seem to be getting all upset perhaps we should release the reins a bit and let the invisible hand nudge us towards what is best. I am not going to suggest I know without a doubt what or who this invisible hand is, maybe it is a super power we call God, or maybe it is the collective good will inherent in all of us if we let it come out, or maybe it is nothing. There are many people throughout the world that seemingly have nothing but "BAD" in their lives. But instinctively, not that I really know, I feel that through all their misery and pain the invisible hand is moving them from freedom from the chains inflicted upon them from those who want to do only evil.

In the end we will never really know if good does seek all of us. I have the true feeling that it does and it nudges us always towards freedom from harm only some times we don't get there but it doesn't mean it isn't working.       

Things My Mother Told Me

Many, many years ago when science and schooling was not for everyone Mothers had their own version of the scientific approach that would cure you or at least stop you from destroying yourself. Now I appreciate the fact that today's Mother or Father for that matter might scoff at some of the remedies offered by the Moms of my generation or before but in some cases they still hold up as cures or stoppage of compulsive, destructive behavior. Here a few I remember and I better commit them to paper before I forget.

Feed a cold and starve a fever. So when I got a cold or a chill my Mom would make such things as Egg Nogs, soup and plenty of bread. Bread was considered a staple of life back in the day. Of course if I had a fever then the fluids, primarily water and coco, would be fed into me. Now if I had a cold and fever at the same time she just fed me and had me wash it down with plenty of water.

I really liked butter. One day my Mom found me eating butter with a spoon. She instinctively felt this was wrong so she told me that if I continued doing that I'd get the mumps. I reminded her that I already had the mumps but she said that didn't matter if I continued to eat butter like that.

I really liked sugar. One day she caught me eating a tablespoon of sugar and she told me if I continued to eat sugar like that worms would enter my mouth and eat holes in my teeth and travel to my brain. Naturally I stopped eating sugar by the spoonful.

One day as my Mother was kneading dough for some pie she caught me eating the raw dough. She told me if I ate raw dough it would grow in my stomach into a big ball of dough and block my bowels causing great pain until it was corrected. You got it right, I stopped eating raw dough.

When she was making meat balls one day she saw me eating pieces of raw chop meat. She told me that could lead to tape worms that could grow to great lengths in my stomach. I stopped purloining pieces of raw chop meat after that. Much later I paid a pretty price for Steak tartare in a pricey French restaurant. However today many warn against eating raw meat. I guess Mom knew what she was talking about.

Now this may be classified as an old wives tale and I may have heard this from a Nun, Priest or maybe Mom. If you don't leave that thing alone it'll fall off, you'll have hair on the palms of your hands and you'll go blind. They were all wrong.

The Stork brought you. This was hard for me to take Mom's word on this, sort of like Santa Claus, they both had to come in through the chimney and we only had a fake fireplace. When I was about twelve or so my Mom asked me one day if she had to explain about the Stork or did I know already. I let her know I knew about the Stork AND Santa Claus. She looked relieved that we didn't have to explore this conversation any further.

I used to complain about going to bed before the rest of the family since I was convinced there was a green monster under my bed. Mom kept saying there wasn't but how could I believe a woman who kept threatening that the Boogie Man was going to get me if I wasn't a good boy.

The biggest threat Mom could give me was that she was going to tell my Father. My Father was a gentle man who hit me only once when I was about four and while I never consciously remembered it, it must have stuck in my sub-conscious since all he ever had to do was look at me in that certain way and I'd stop doing whatever I was doing or saying. But as I got older it became obvious to me that his idea of a grown man and my Mother's were two different things. One weekday night I arrived home around three-thirty in the morning. As I opened the door my Mom met me, all five foot one of her and she was steaming, and I was a little drunk. She gave me a few slaps and threatened that when we got upstairs "Your Father would be waiting and he was steaming since he had to get up in a few hours.". As I ascended the stairs with her banging me in the back threatening what my Father was going to do to me and we reach the second landing I could hear a noise that sounded like snoring. You got it right my Father was in a deep sleep and the next day when we saw each other he never brought it up. However my Mother, when he was out of ear shot, reiterated the threat that my Father was ready to kill me. After that I gave my Mother the respect of listening to the threat but unless I saw "that look" from my Father I continued doing whatever I wanted much to Mom's regret.

There are many more things Mom told me that worked for the good such as "You should marry that girl even though she's Puerto Rican and not Italian", "Give it some thought before you give up the Trumpet, you may regret it if you do.", "Another child? Are you crazy? Are you trying to kill her?", "A half a loaf is better than none", spoken like a true Great Depression survivor. She really was a great Mom, always made sure we had on clean underwear and we had plenty to eat and a clean house and lots of laughs. She really enjoyed laughing. She is missed even if some of her sayings were outlandish.

Television In Its Infancy

Back in the day when Television was very young so was I. Very few had seen TV outside of the New York World's Fair of 1939-1940. But after WWII TV was out on the market. We didn't get our first TV until 1950, a RCA 16 inch screen. The size was the biggest at that time except for projections. Around 1948 I was invited to see a Yankee baseball game on a 10 or 12 inch screen. It goes without saying everything was in black and white. We were used to listening to baseball games on the radio where the announcers were very descriptive but on TV the announcers said very little. They let the pictures speak for themselves. I remember being invited to see Willie Pep fight Sandy saddler for the Featherweight championship. A terrific fight which Pep won although his face looked as though it went through a meat grinder after 15 rounds.

Come 1950 my parents brought the brand new, large screen, RCA into the house. We had CBS, NBC, Dumont, ABC, Channels 2,4,5,and 7. I think we had the New York Daily news local station on Channel 11. Channel 13 was a new jersey station that we received with a lot of snow in the picture. There wasn't public TV in those days and the privately owned station had a weak signal. Channel 13 broadcast a lot of kid shows. Broadcasting didn't start until 8 or 9 in the morning. Before the broadcasting day started there was just a test pattern on the screen and a loud noise. The day started and ended with a rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner". The Broadcasting day was over about midnight.

Wrestling was a very popular thing back then with Antonino Rocca, Gene (Mr. America) Stanley, Lord Leslie Carlton from New York during the middle of the week with the weekend, Saturday, broadcasting from Chicago featuring, Buddy Rodgers and Chief Don Eagle who by the way sported a Mohawk coiffure.
Tuesday evening belonged to Mr. Television, Milton Berle. Channel 5, Dumont, was a network owned by a maker of TV sets. Some of their early programming featured Jackie Gleason, Morey Amsterdam and Art  Carney but eventually they went out of the business of broadcasting and eventually manufacturing. Dumont lost out to the giants in both fields but for a while they put up a good fight. John Cameron Swayze was a news-broadcaster of some fame until he gave it up to become the spokesperson of Timex watches. He had the early evening news around 6PM. By 11PM the main part of the broadcasting day was over but they had a fifteen minute wrap-up with a news program which I remember being anchored by John K. M. McCaffery on CBS. Then a few days a week there was program called "The Continental" voiced over by an Italian character actor with a very sexy contintental voice, this ran for fifteen minutes. The Contintental was never seen and the view point was his as he opened the door to his apartment greeting a very sexy looking young woman. They have a glass of Champagne and he'd light her cigarrete and they would kiss and then I think she would leave, without being explicit it was very sexy, in fact I used some of his lines on some dates I went out with.  Eventually CBS installed a late night movie with Leroy Anderson's "The Syncopated Clock" as the theme song and called the show "The Late Show". NBC under the tutelage of Pat Weaver tried something very new, a variety, comedy show called "Broadway Open House" that had comedian Jerry Lester hosting it for three nights a week and Morey Amsterdam for two. I think the show was on from 11PM to 1AM. Morey left and Jerry Lester took over for five nights. Andy Williams got his start on the Amsterdam segments (I think) and Morey wowed them with his cello and his "Yuk A Puck" humor. Lester had a dumb (really not so dumb) blonde called Dagmar, a gimmick with bean bags and a nerdy looking conductor called Milton Delugg, who wrote among other things "Orange Colored Sky" which was recorded by Nat King Cole among many. This was really the start of "The Tonight Show", Steve Allen came a few years later but "Broadway Open House" was the brainchild and it started in 1950.

It was a slower time back then. No cable new on 24 hours a day seven days a week. The newspapers were still our main source for news and details of the world's happennings. We didn't have computers or iPods, or Tablets or Kindles but we survived very nicely, thank you. Our music was sweeter and I think more poetic and slightly askew with the thought of romance and love. We don't live in the past but we shouldn't forget it because the past is the foundation of where we are at today. Sometimes it is good to reflect. By the way, cable was started so that those who lived on the out-skirts of major towns could receive the regular TV programming of the day. The regular signal couldn't service them.

I want to end with the lyrcs of Orange Colored Sky" and suggest you Utube Nat King Cole's rendition and maybe Broadway Open House for some good entertainment and music.

I was walking along, minding my business,
When out of an orange-colored sky,
Flash! Bam! Alakazam!
Wonderful you came by.

I was humming a tune, drinking in sunshine,
When out of that orange-colored view
Flash! Bam! Alakazam!
I got a look at you.

One look and I yelled "Timber"
"Watch out for flying glass"
Cause the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out,
I went into a spin and I started to shout,
"I've been hit, This is it, This is it,I've been hit!"

I was walking along, minding my business,
When love came and hit me in the eye,
Flash! Bam! Alakazam!
Out of an orange-colored sky.

One look and I yelled "Timber"
"Watch out for flying glass"
Cause the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out,
I went into a spin and I started to shout,
"I've been hit, this is it, this is it,I've been hit!"

I was walking along, minding my business,
When love came and hit me in the eye
Flash! Bam! Alakazam!
Out of an orange-colored, purple-striped, pretty green polka-dot sky
Flash! Bam! Alakazam! and goodbye

Young Love, Ageless & Pure

All one has to do is read history books, the Bible, or any chronology of the world to find out there were injustices abounding, people suffering and the rich and powerful taking advantage of those that didn't have the means of power. There were wars and to the victors went the spoils. The wealth of the defeated nation was plundered, the women raped and many of the young and healthy taken into slavery. All of this persisted and still persists today but there was a time when this didn't exist for me. The time was as I was emerging from my feeling of captivity of being a young child completely depended upon my parents into an emerging adult. I had gone through it all, elementary and high school. I had my first job. I was meeting different people outside of my neighborhood cocoon and they included beautiful young women. It was a time when youth did spring eternal. It was a time when things were a bit easier, smoother and much gentler. Everything was for the first time and it all tasted sweeter. One never gave thought of what might happen ten or twenty years from "now" because we all had many years ahead of us. The experience was for today and what might follow we would deal with as the events led us to the happenings.

The guys would talk about the girls but they would keep the discussion on a very high level for the ones who were considered to be "good" girls. There was always mystery connected with the female gender. What they did in preparation for the workweek necessitated them staying home on Sunday nights. Every month there was a reason they didn't feel well or had cramps or whatever. The guys would make crude jokes about this but down deep they didn't want to know any details. Down deep the guys wanted to keep the  feminine mystique as something to be discovered as one unraveled any mystery, a step at a time.

Love in this time was as romantic as love could be starting out with loving from afar but melting under the close association of two healthy young bodies. This love was never brought down to the level of the streets. This love was held in high regard and romanticized to the utmost in popular song by the singing artists of the day as they either listened or danced the slow touching dances of the day such as the Fox Trot. Some of the love songs of the day were "Suddenly Its Spring", "I'd Love To Get You On A Slow Boat To China",
Moonlight Becomes You" among many that had the right words of suddenly falling in love or forlorn love sung by the crooners such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dick Haymes.

Nat (King) Cole was a jazz pianist turned singer that epitomizes the smooth, gentle style of the day for us young lovers. His smooth voice offered such hits as "Mona Lisa", "Unforgettable", "My Funny Valentine" among hundreds of hits but the one I think could give you an idea of the time and frame of mind I am referring to is "Its Only A Paper Moon". It is about a guy (not a girl not back then) who is trying to tell his girl how much she means to him. The guy uses many metaphors but what he is saying in the mushiest, craziest of terms is that if anything is make believe it would stop being so if only she'd believe in him. His plea is without her love, everything would be worthless even the whole world and it is implied he would be devastated. There is nothing in this song pleading for her love that says he wants to bed her down or  he holds her in disdain. This song is about everything love should be about in a romantic way, which somehow in today's world the idea seems lost which is a pity.

I invite you to read the following lyrics of "Paper Moon" and then go to UTube to listen to Nat (King) Cole's rendition of it and close your eyes and step back into a time when the world was younger, romantic and in many ways nicer.  

Say it's only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea,
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believed in me.


Say it is only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree,
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believed in me.


Without your love,
It's a honky-tonk parade.
Without your love,
It's a melody played in a penny arcade.

It's a barnum and bailey world,
Just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believed in me.

Without your love,
It's a honky-tonk parade.
Without your love,
It's a melody played in a penny arcade.


It's a barnum and bailey world
Just as phony as it can be,
But it wouldn't be make believe
If you believed in me.