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.
REFLECTION
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
Why do you suppose the Church places again the Gospel of the leper for us to read? Prayer is the biggest outlet we have for ourselves and one another. Nothing is colder than for one not to have love and compassion for another and not to care for the salvation of their souls.
Without Jesus, we are not able to achieve holiness, reach to the top of a spiritual life without His cleansing us of the stain of sin. Jesus sees us in our darkness when we stumble, make a mess of our lives. He promises that it is not too late because of His gift to us--Redemption through His mercy.
The leper was the worst of all human beings--appendages falling off, deformities and blindness. They were outcasts and lived outside of the city margins. There is a cure for leprosy. There is a cure for sin. Jesus, the great physician, can cure it all.
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