First Reading – Leviticus 13:1-2, 45-46.
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1.
Gospel – Mark 1:40-45
Today’s Scripture lessons teach us that the sick and the maimed are not to be objects of
scorn, but potential reservoirs of God’s mercy for us. St. Francis of Assisi, for instance,
understood this. At one time in his life, he had a terrible fear of lepers. Then one day
when he was out for a ride, he heard the warning bell that lepers were required to ring in
the Middle Ages. When a leper emerged from a clump of trees, St. Francis saw that he
was horribly disfigured. Half of his nose had been eaten away; his hands were stubs
without fingers and his lips were oozing white pus. Instead of giving in to his fears,
Francis slid down from his horse, ran forward, embraced the leper, and kissed him.
Francis’ life was never the same after that episode. He had found a new relationship
with God, a new sensitivity to others and a new energy for his ministry.
All three readings today teach us that we are called to become pure and holy. But we
don’t become holy by some ritual observances. We become holy by confessing our sins
to God and offering our lives for God’s glory and by sharing God’s love with everyone
around us without discriminating against anyone based on colour, race, culture,
religion, lifestyle, wealth, or social status.
Scripture lessons summarised: In the book of Leviticus we read that, God called Moses
and His chosen people to holiness and purity. That is why the first reading teaches the
theme of freedom from bodily and ritual impurity as a sign of internal holiness. This
freedom is symbolised by the precautions against contracting leprosy given in the first
reading and by the healing of the leper described in the Gospel. The first reading shows
the ancient Jewish attitude toward leprosy and gives the rules for the segregation of
lepers. This provides a background for Jesus’ healing of a leper. In today’s Responsorial
Psalm (Ps 32), the psalmist says: “I confessed my faults to the LORD, and You took away
my guilt.” He teaches us that we become holy by confessing our sins and being
reconciled with God every day. The psalm serves as a mini-treatise on reconciliation,
covering the meaning of the spiritual leprosy of sin and showing how we are forgiven by
a Sacramental encounter with God: “I turn to You, Lord, in times of trouble, and You fill
me with the joy of salvation.”
In today’s second reading, St. Paul exhorts us to become holy by doing “everything for
the glory of God” and by showing sensitivity toward others who are different from us,
rather than passing judgment on them.
Today’s Gospel describes how Jesus heals a leper, liberating him both from the disease
of leprosy and from the unjust, inhuman social, ritual, and religious isolation and
ostracism to which lepers were subjected. We need to trust in the mercy of a forgiving
God who assures us that our sins are forgiven and that we are clean. We are forgiven
and made spiritually clean from the spiritual leprosy of sins when we repent of our sins,
because God is a God of love who waits patiently for us. The only condition required of
us is that we ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart. We are sure to hear His words of
absolution, “Very well — your sins are forgiven, and you are clean,” echoed in the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. We need to tear down the walls that separate us from
others and build bridges of loving relationship. Jesus calls every one of us to demolish
the walls that separate us from each other and to welcome the outcasts and the
untouchables of society. These include homosexuals, the imprisoned, AIDS victims,
alcoholics, drug addicts and marginalised groups – the divorced, the unmarried-single
mothers, migrant workers, and the mentally ill. God’s loving hand must reach out to
them through us. Jesus wants us to touch their lives. Let us re-examine the barriers we
have created and approach God with a heart that is ready to welcome the outcasts in
our society