Thursday, January 15, 2004
1st Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: 1S 4:1-11
Gospel: Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to Jesus and begged him, "If you so will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, "I will; be clean." The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, he sternly warned him, "Don't tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest and for the cleansing bring the offering ordered by Moses; in this way you will make your declaration."

However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though he stayed in the rural areas, people came to him from everywhere.

Commentary

I'VE often heard people say, "I felt like a leper!" No need to look at their skin, though, or to count their fingers; what they are saying is that they felt isolated or completely discredited. In that sense the world is still full of lepers. There are lepers in every parish and there may even be a leper or two in one's own house. A young man said to me recently that he felt like a leper in his own family. People were steering around him, he said; no one ever asked him what he thought or how he felt. It is one thing to choose to be alone (see yesterday's reading), but to be cast into isolation is another. We are social beings by nature, and it requires great strength to be alone; nor is it always a good thing. What can you do for someone who feels isolated but to reach out and touch them? You are more than just you when you do that: you are society, you are community, you are the Church, you are the human race. One may even say you are Jesus. "Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him."

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