Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Read more
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading of the Gospel
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Mark 1,40-45
A man suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to him and pleaded on his knees saying, 'If you are willing, you can cleanse me.' Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said to him, 'I am willing. Be cleansed.' And at once the skin-disease left him and he was cleansed. And at once Jesus sternly sent him away and said to him, 'Mind you tell no one anything, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your cleansing prescribed by Moses as evidence to them.' The man went away, but then started freely proclaiming and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but stayed outside in deserted places. Even so, people from all around kept coming to him.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Homily
"A leper came to Jesus." It was really strange that a leper would dare to approach anyone, for all of them were obliged to stay away from people. The book of Leviticus was categorical: "The person who has the leprous disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be dishevelled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp" (13:45-46). The exclusion from living with others made ??this terrible disease even worse than what already appeared. That is why it seems strange that a leper dared to approach Jesus, overcoming an abysmal distance that was guaranteed also by law. How many people today, near or far from us, are affected by leprosy! There are not so many actually affected by the disease that is in fact easily treatable today, as are those who see their lives irrevocably marked by illness and marginality. Still today we are many, too many, to keep them away from us for fear of contagion, or, as some say, not to be saddened at their sight. As soon as the lepers came to know that he was going to pass, overcame the barriers of fear and mistrust and flocked to him. When today's disciples, Christian communities anywhere in the world, cannot create a new atmosphere and when they are not Gospel attractive, they should ask themselves why not.
That leper came close to Jesus and fell at his feet; he said simply, but with faith: "If you choose, you can make me clean." The leper did not doubt that Jesus could heal him; and yet, he did not know whether he wanted to. The desperation of the leper, in front of that good prophet, turned into faith. And Jesus, the compassionate one, could not but listen to him; not afraid of contagion, he stretched out his hand and touched him. And he communicated to him the energy of life. The Gospel encourages all of us to meet and to hear, to touch and to feel the great need of salvation that millions of today's "lepers" have. With his answer, "I do choose. Be made clean," Jesus shows us what his will is regarding any kind of leprosy and evil. Yes, God's will is very clear: to fight against all kinds of evil, against all kinds of discrimination, of distance, of exclusion. And we are really far from the rather widespread belief that God decides to deploy evil in people according to their sin. Nothing is more alien to the Gospel.
It is not easy to understand Jesus' order to the leper: "See that you say nothing to anyone..." It is a command that seems foreign to our habits and our "television" culture. The Gospel seems to show that Jesus wants to keep a striking, rich, expressive silence. We could also interpret this line within the context of the so-called "messianic secret," so dear to the evangelist Mark. However, we should underline that Jesus does not seek his glory or the strengthening of his fame. The desire for silence is linked to the delicate secret of a friendship that develops between the Lord and that leper, between the Lord and anyone who trusts him. We could interpret the silence imposed by Jesus about the miracle to mean that it is primarily a friendly, loving, compassionate response to those who are sick and excluded. It is like saying that the love of God for me, for you, for every human being, comes before anything else. Perhaps because that leper was touched by this unique and unimaginable love, that he could not be silent. The leper did not obey and divulged the fact to the extent that Jesus could no longer enter the city because of the large number of people who sought him out. Jesus, who did not want to please people but his Father, withdrew to other places. People, however, did not lose sight of him and kept following him.
Prayer is the heart of the life of the Community of Sant'Egidio and is its absolute priority. At the end of the day, every the Community of Sant'Egidio, large or small, gathers around the Lord to listen to his Word. The Word of God and the prayer are, in fact, the very basis of the whole life of the Community. The disciples cannot do other than remain at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary of Bethany, to receive his love and learn his ways (Phil. 2:5).
So every evening, when the Community returns to the feet of the Lord, it repeats the words of the anonymous disciple: " Lord, teach us how to pray". Jesus, Master of prayer, continues to answer: "When you pray, say: Abba, Father". It is not a simple exhortation, it is much more. With these words Jesus lets the disciples participate in his own relationship with the Father. Therefore in prayer, the fact of being children of the Father who is in heaven, comes before the words we may say. So praying is above all a way of being! That is to say we are children who turn with faith to the Father, certain that they will be heard.
Jesus teaches us to call God "Our Father". And not simply "Father" or "My Father". Disciples, even when they pray on their own, are never isolated nor they are orphans; they are always members of the Lord's family.
In praying together, beside the mystery of being children of God, there is also the mystery of brotherhood, as the Father of the Church said: "You cannot have God as father without having the church as mother". When praying together, the Holy Spirit assembles the disciples in the upper room together with Mary, the Lord's mother, so that they may direct their gaze towards the Lord's face and learn from Him the secret of his Heart.
The Communities of Sant'Egidio all over the world gather in the various places of prayer and lay before the Lord the hopes and the sufferings of the tired, exhausted crowds of which the Gospel speaks ( Mat. 9: 3-7 ), In these ancient crowds we can see the huge masses of the modern cities, the millions of refugees who continue to flee their countries, the poor, relegated to the very fringe of life and all those who are waiting for someone to take care of them. Praying together includes the cry, the invocation, the aspiration, the desire for peace, the healing and salvation of the men and women of this world. Prayer is never in vain; it rises ceaselessly to the Lord so that anguish is turned into hope, tears into joy, despair into happiness, and solitude into communion. May the Kingdom of God come soon among people!
For the sick, in memory of the dead, for peace
