Cleansing of a Leper (SIXTH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME - B)

FEBRUARY 11, 2024 - SUNDAY
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)
Lectionary: 77
CYCLE B - YEAR II

Reading I
Lv 13:1-2, 44-46

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
“If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch
which appears to be the sore of leprosy,
he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest,
or to one of the priests among his descendants.
If the man is leprous and unclean,
the priest shall declare him unclean
by reason of the sore on his head.
“The one who bears the sore of leprosy
shall keep his garments rent and his head bare,
and shall muffle his beard;
he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’
As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean,
since he is in fact unclean.
He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 32:1-2, 5, 11

R. (7) I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.

Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
    in whose spirit there is no guile.

R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
    my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
    and you took away the guilt of my sin.

R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you just;
    exult, all you upright of heart.

R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.

Reading II
1 Cor 10:31—11:1

Brothers and sisters,
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for the glory of God.
Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or 
the church of God,
just as I try to please everyone in every way,
not seeking my own benefit but that of the many,
that they may be saved.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Alleluia
Lk 7:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

A great prophet has arisen in our midst,
God has visited his people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, 
touched him, and said to him, 
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. 
He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest 
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

REFLECTION:

Jesus, the compassionate one, enters fully into the human mess of our lives. Leprosy was the most dreaded of diseases in his day. Jesus risks conflict and division for the sake of a nobody who was suffering exclusion and isolation from family and community. The leper approaches in confident trust and Jesus touches his sore, leprous body. Lord, how do I approach you in prayer? Begging, kneeling, and asking for what I want? Let me feel your touch.

PRAYER:

Touch me, Lord. Touch the ugly bits of me that I do not like to look at. If you will, you can make me clean.

Be Made Clean

JUNE 30, 2023 FRIDAY

Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)

CYCLE A - YEAR I

Lectionary: 375

Reading I

Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him

and said: “I am God the Almighty.

Walk in my presence and be blameless.”

God also said to Abraham:

“On your part, you and your descendants after you

must keep my covenant throughout the ages.

This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you

that you must keep:

every male among you shall be circumcised.”

God further said to Abraham:

“As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai;

her name shall be Sarah.

I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her.

Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations,

and rulers of peoples shall issue from him.”

Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself,

“Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?

Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?”

Then Abraham said to God,

“Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!”

God replied: “Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son,

and you shall call him Isaac.

I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact,

to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.

As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him.

I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly.

He shall become the father of twelve chieftains,

and I will make of him a great nation.

But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac,

whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year.”

When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.

Responsorial Psalm

128:1-2, 3, 4-5

R. (4) See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,

who walk in his ways!

For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;

blessed shall you be, and favored.

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine

in the recesses of your home;

Your children like olive plants

around your table.

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Behold, thus is the man blessed

who fears the LORD.

The LORD bless you from Zion:

may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life.

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Alleluia

Mt 8:17

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Christ took away our infirmities

and bore our diseases.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mt 8:1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”

He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,

“I will do it. Be made clean.”

His leprosy was cleansed immediately.

Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,

but go show yourself to the priest,

and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;

that will be proof for them.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Much of the life and work of Jesus was spent with the ill and the disabled, and often with people like this leper who nobody wanted. In the mind and heart of Jesus, nobody is unwanted. Throughout our lives, Jesus wants us with him, offering us the gift of love and calling, asking only love and the effort to love in return. ‘How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?' is a psalm we might pray as we grow in awareness of all that Jesus does for his people.

PRAYER:

Inspired by the man who suffered with leprosy, I begin my prayer not with my demanding a request, but with the phrase. ‘Lord, if you choose to, you can...’

Be Made Clean

JANUARY 12, 2023, THURSDAY

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time (Green)

CYCLE A - YEAR I

Lectionary: 308

Reading 1

Heb 3:7-14

The Holy Spirit says:

    Oh, that today you would hear his voice,

        “Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion

        in the day of testing in the desert,

    where your ancestors tested and tried me

        and saw my works for forty years.

    Because of this I was provoked with that generation

        and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart,

        and they do not know my ways.’

    As I swore in my wrath,

        ‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”

Take care, brothers and sisters,

that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,

so as to forsake the living God.

Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”

so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.

We have become partners of Christ

if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.

Responsorial Psalm

95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11

R.    (8)  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;

    let us kneel before the LORD who made us.

For he is our God,

    and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

    “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

    as in the day of Massah in the desert,

Where your fathers tempted me;

    they tested me though they had seen my works.” 

R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Forty years I was wearied of that generation;

    I said: “This people’s heart goes astray,

    they do not know my ways.”

Therefore I swore in my anger:

    “They shall never enter my rest.”

R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Alleluia

Mt 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom

and cured every disease among the people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,

“If you wish, you can make me clean.”

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,

touched the leper, and said to him,

“I do will it. Be made clean.”

The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.

Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.

Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,

but go, show yourself to the priest

and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;

that will be proof for them.”

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.

He spread the report abroad

so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.

He remained outside in deserted places,

and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus, the compassionate one, enters fully into the human mess of our lives. Leprosy was the most dreaded of diseases in his day. Jesus risks conflict and division for the sake of a nobody who was suffering exclusion and isolation from family and community. The leper approaches in confident trust and Jesus touches his sore, leprous body. Lord, how do I approach you in prayer? Begging, kneeling, and asking for what I want? Let me feel your touch.

PRAYER:

Touch me, Lord. Touch the ugly bits of me that I do not like to look at. If you will, you can make me clean.

Jesus Heals A Man With Leprosy

JANUARY 13, 2022, THURSDAY
Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
Optional Memorial of Saint Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (White)
CYCLE C - YEAR II
Lectionary: 308

Reading I
1 Sm 4:1-11

The Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel.

Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer,

while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel.

After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines,

who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.

When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said

“Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today

by the Philistines?

Let us fetch the ark of the Lord from Shiloh

that it may go into battle among us

and save us from the grasp of our enemies.”

So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there

the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim.

The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God.

When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp,

all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded.

The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked,

“What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?”

On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,

the Philistines were frightened.

They said, “Gods have come to their camp.”

They said also, “Woe to us! This has never happened before. Woe to us!

Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?

These are the gods that struck the Egyptians

with various plagues and with pestilence.

Take courage and be manly, Philistines;

otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews,

as they were your slaves.

So fight manfully!” 

The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated;

every man fled to his own tent.

It was a disastrous defeat,

.in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.

The ark of God was captured,

and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.

 

Responsorial Psalm
44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25

R.        (27b)  Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.

Yet now you have cast us off and put us in disgrace,

            and you go not forth with our armies.

You have let us be driven back by our foes;

            those who hated us plundered us at will.

R.        Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.

You made us the reproach of our neighbors,

            the mockery and the scorn of those around us.

You made us a byword among the nations,

            a laughingstock among the peoples.

R.        Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.

Why do you hide your face,

            forgetting our woe and our oppression?

For our souls are bowed down to the dust,

            our bodies are pressed to the earth.

R.        Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.

Alleluia
See Mt 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom

and cured every disease among the people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,

“If you wish, you can make me clean.”

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,

touched the leper, and said to him, 

“I do will it. Be made clean.”

The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.

Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.

Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,

but go, show yourself to the priest

and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;

that will be proof for them.”

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.

He spread the report abroad

so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.

He remained outside in deserted places,

and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus, the compassionate one, enters fully into the human mess of our lives. Leprosy was the most dreaded of diseases in his day. Jesus risks conflict and division for the sake of a nobody who was suffering exclusion and isolation from family and community. The leper approaches in confident trust and Jesus touches his sore, leprous body. Lord, how do I approach you in prayer? Begging, kneeling, and asking for what I want? Let me feel your touch.

PRAYER:

Touch me, Lord. Touch the ugly bits of me that I do not like to look at. If you will, you can make me clean.

Touching The Untouchables

JANUARY 07, 2022, FRIDAY
FRIDAY AFTER EPIPHANY (White)
Optional Memorial of Saint Raymond of Peñafort, priest (White)
CYCLE C- YEAR II
Lectionary: 216

Reading I
1 Jn 5:5-13

Beloved:

Who indeed is the victor over the world

but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came through water and Blood, Jesus Christ,

not by water alone, but by water and Blood. 

The Spirit is the one who testifies,

and the Spirit is truth. 

So there are three who testify,

the Spirit, the water, and the Blood, 

and the three are of one accord. 

If we accept human testimony,

the testimony of God is surely greater. 

Now the testimony of God is this,

that he has testified on behalf of his Son. 

Whoever believes in the Son of God

has this testimony within himself.

Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar

by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son. 

And this is the testimony:

God gave us eternal life,

and this life is in his Son. 

Whoever possesses the Son has life;

whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you so that you may know

that you have eternal life,

you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

Responsorial Psalm
147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

R.        (12a)  Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;

            praise your God, O Zion.

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;

            he has blessed your children within you.

R.        Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

He has granted peace in your borders;

            with the best of wheat he fills you.

He sends forth his command to the earth;

            swiftly runs his word!

R.        Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,

            his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.

He has not done thus for any other nation;

            his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.

R.        Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

Alleluia
See Mt 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom

and cured every disease among the people.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Lk 5:12-16

It happened that there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was;

and when he saw Jesus,

he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said,

“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” 

Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,

“I do will it.  Be made clean.” 

And the leprosy left him immediately. 

Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but

“Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing

what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 

The report about him spread all the more,

and great crowds assembled to listen to him

and to be cured of their ailments,

but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

A young man called Francis met a leper on the road as he journeyed towards Assisi. The story goes that though the leper caused him no small disgust and horror, he got off his horse and prepared to kiss him. But when the leper put out his hand as though to receive something, he received money along with a kiss. May I reach out with compassionate care, with love, with a touch, to those who have been rejected and mistreated.

An energy-point for Jesus was his prayer, and we find that at key times of his life, he prayed: before calling the twelve, at the time of temptation and the struggle at his Passion and death; and very often as part of his life he went to quiet places to pray. His ministry needed the support and life-giving energy of his relationship with his Father. With us our life of love needs the energy of prayer. Prayer enhances family life, friendship and work or ministry for others. When we bring the love and commitments of our lives to prayer, something happens to being us deeper into the source of our convictions and commitments to God and others.

PRAYER:

Lord, you did things your own way. You were concerned with more than bodily healing. You were bothered most by the helplessness and humiliation of those rejected by society. You did not give them a hand-out but much more: a new relationship with their God, which helped them live with new dignity.

Be Made Clean

June 25, 2021, Friday
Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time (Green)
CYCLE B - YEAR I
Lectionary: 375

Reading I
Gn 17:1, 9-10, 15-22

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him
and said: “I am God the Almighty.
Walk in my presence and be blameless.”
God also said to Abraham:
“On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you
that you must keep:
every male among you shall be circumcised.”
God further said to Abraham:
“As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai;
her name shall be Sarah.
I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her.
Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations,
and rulers of peoples shall issue from him.”
Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself,
“Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?
Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?”
Then Abraham said to God,
“Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!”
God replied: “Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son,
and you shall call him Isaac.
I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact,
to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.
As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him.
I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall become the father of twelve chieftains,
and I will make of him a great nation.
But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac,
whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year.”
When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.

Responsorial Psalm
128:1-2, 3, 4-5

R. (4) See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.

R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.

Alleluia
Mt 8:17

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Christ took away our infirmities
and bore our diseases.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL
Mt 8:1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I will do it. Be made clean.”
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,
but go show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”

REFLECTION:

Much of the life and work of Jesus was spent with the ill and the disabled, and often with people like this leper who nobody wanted. In the mind and heart of Jesus, nobody is unwanted. Throughout our lives, Jesus wants us with him, offering us the gift of love and calling, asking only love and the effort to love in return. ‘How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?' is a psalm we might pray as we grow in awareness of all that Jesus does for his people.

PRAYER:

Inspired by the man who suffered from leprosy, I begin my prayer not with my demanding a request, but with the phrase. ‘Lord, if you choose to, you can...’

Cleansing of a Leper

February 14, 2021, Sunday
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Green)
CYCLE B - YEAR I
RDGS: LV 13:1-2. 44-46/ PS 32:1-2. 5. 11/ 1 COR 10:31--11:1
GOSPEL: MK 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him, 
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Jesus, the compassionate one, enters fully into the human mess of our lives. Leprosy was the most dreaded of diseases in his day. Jesus risks conflict and division for the sake of a nobody who was suffering exclusion and isolation from family and community. The leper approaches in confident trust and Jesus touches his sore, leprous body. Lord, how do I approach you in prayer? Begging, kneeling, and asking for what I want? Let me feel your touch.

PRAYER:

Touch me, Lord. Touch the ugly bits of me that I do not like to look at. If you will, you can make me clean.