Gospel Reflection Feb 14 – Deacon Paul
Sunday, February 14
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1: 40 – 45
Gospel:
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.
Gospel Reflection:
In our Gospel reading from Mark, we heard about a man with leprosy that knelt down and begged Jesus with humility, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” And what did Jesus do, “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.”
Friends, where leprosy is noticeable as an exterior disease of sores on the body, how many of us in turn fully recognize our own inner sores…our sins? Maybe we are unclean? Maybe we are defiled because we have impure thoughts, anger, bitterness, lust, greed, pride, or maybe we have had hurtful actions towards others?
As we quickly approach the season of Lent, with Ash Wednesday this coming week, let us be aware of our inner sores. Let us be “touched” by Jesus and receive his forgiveness and his healing by seeking him out in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Let us kneel and say to Jesus, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” I assure you; he will reply to you with the very same level of compassion he showed to the leper and say, “I will do it, be made clean.”
Friends, do you want to be touched by Jesus? If you want to be touched by Jesus, spend as much time with him as you can. Like the man in the story today, go…and seek Jesus out in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Prostrate yourself…humble yourself… spend time in the Word…spend time praying. Make Jesus a priority, and he will touch you.
-Deacon Paul Zemanek