Sunday, February 8, 2015

Cycle B - Year I:   

15 February 2015: Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 
(Liturgical color: Green)

Mark 1:40-45

Jesus heals a leper!



Have you seen a picture of Pope Francis comforting and hugging a severely deformed man? It is a touching and moving picture captured on camera and circulated in the internet. The picture speaks a thousand words of the Pope's humanity and caring attitude towards the sick and suffering people, the flock entrusted to his care as the Vicar of Christ on earth.



That inspiring picture connects to an incident in our Lord's ministry as narrated by the evangelist Mark in this Sunday's Gospel.



The Gospel narratives present the moving story of Jesus healing the leper who "kneeling down begged him and said: 'If you wish, you can make me clean.'" (Mk 1:40)

 



Now lepers were outcasts of society in Jesus' time. Consider a leper in our Lord's time, how leprosy gradually eats away at the body, how it has no cure, and how it makes a man unclean for Temple worship. In fact, the Jewish law forbade anyone from touching or approaching a leper.



Moved with pity, Jesus did the unexpected. He stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and granted the man his request to be cured. Thus, Jesus demonstrates the personal love, compassion, and tenderness of God in his physical touch of the sick man avoided by society. Our Lord met the man's misery with compassion and tender kindness. By physically touching the "untouchable" leper, Jesus communicated the love and mercy of God very powerfully in a sign that spoke more eloquently than words.



The healing of the leper shows that Jesus indeed is the One to come. Because it is written that when the Messiah comes, the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. As with all his miracles, our Lord's healing of the leper displays his divine authority. The physical healing manifests Jesus' power over the natural world.



Let us reflect on the Gospel message in our practical life today.



There is an intriguing parallel between leprosy and sin. Because both render us unfit for worship. We can see leprosy as an apt image of sin because  sin destroys the soul like leprosy destroys the body.



With this in mind, do we seek the Lord with expectant faith, like the leper in the Gospel story? Remember that no one who sought Jesus out was refused his help. Even the "untouchables" and the outcasts of Jewish society found help in our Lord.



The Lord Jesus is always ready to show us his mercy and to free us from whatever makes us unclean.



How do we approach the "untouchables" and outcasts in our present society, especially those we find difficult to love? Do we offer them mercy and help as Jesus did to the leper?



In our time, Jesus needs our words and actions, our hands and our hearts, to continue to reach out to the lonely, to alleviate the pain, to bridge the gap that separates people. Let us follow the Lord's examples of mercy and compassion with the leper in this Sunday's Gospel, and the rest of our brethren who need our love and care.





A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.



Ad Jesum per Mariam!


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Sunday, February 1, 2015

Cycle B - Year I:   

8 February 2015: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 
(Liturgical color: Green)

Mark 1:29-39

Praying and healing!





The Philippines was blessed recently with the pastoral visit of the popular Pope Francis. In the highlight of his visit, and despite the bad weather, he took the real risk to fly to Tacloban and be with the people there, to heal their wounds brought about by the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda, through his mission of  "mercy and compassion".





Barely a month after the papal visit, our nation suffered yet another tragedy, not from the wrath of mother nature, but from the evils of man's own making. The country mourns the loss of 44 SAF policemen who were mercilessly massacred by Muslim rebels. How do we heal the nation's wounds of our own making?





Pope Francis said that sometimes we have no words to say amidst tragedies. And so it is alright for us to cry, perhaps to ease the pain, to cleanse our hearts of hatred and the desire for revenge.





For we live in a world of pain, where physical, emotional and moral sufferings are realities. So we turn to God for hope and refuge in the most trying times in our lives.





This week's gospel offers a glimpse of a day in the public life of our Lord Jesus. The evangelist Mark presents Jesus tirelessly preaching to large crowds and healing a mounting number of sick and suffering. On entering the house of Simon Peter, Jesus healed Simon's mother-in-law and she waited on them.




There is a lesson to learn from this incident. When Jesus heals us physically or even spiritually, the best way to thank the Lord is to serve Him in our brothers and sisters, like what Simon's mother-in-law did after being healed by Jesus.





The Gospel narrative continues and that even after sunset, people keep bringing to Jesus all who are ill. But after this exhausting day, Jesus gets up early the next morning and goes off to a quiet place to be alone in prayer with his heavenly Father.  Because in prayer and conversion with the Father, Jesus finds the strength and energy in his demanding ministry.  We can learn from the example of Jesus as well, and make prayer the primary source of our activities and actions while living in this busy world.





What then is the relevance of the gospel message in dealing with our national tragedies and hurt?





The Gospel presents Jesus as the healer of the sick and suffering. He is God-made-man who is always close to those broken and suffering in soul and body. In Jesus, God comes into our world of tears and sufferings in order to transform our despair into hope, to transform death into new life.





This is the only way we find meaning in our sufferings, national or personal, to find our way back to God, who is gracious and heals the brokenhearted.





A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.







Ad Jesum per Mariam!































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