Ilyās Rāhib, Jesus Cleanses a Leper, Arabic Gospels (1684), Walters Art Museum (Baltimore)
This Sunday’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus gives just a few of the horrible rules established by the Mosaic community to protect itself from leprosy. Lepers were ostracized by their families and neighbors and forced to live outside the villages and towns. As today’s reading says, they had to cover their mouths with one hand and call out “Unclean, unclean” as they walked. Anyone who came into any contact whatsoever with a leper was considered to be unclean like the leper. And Jesus, moved with pity, stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “Be made clean.” Jesus did not see the unclean leper, or his disease. He was not concerned with the strict prohibitions of Jewish society. Jesus did not see a leper at all; he saw a human soul in desperate need. He stretched out his hand and touched him. He healed him with his touch. Jesus gave this power to his disciples.
At the conclusion of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus proclaims the signs of the members of his people. Among these signs is this one: they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. We possess the wonderful capacity to be instruments of the healing power of Christ. Therefore, we have the duty not only to pray for the sick and to help them get effective medical help, but also to pray over them and extend the touch of Christ to them.
In the second reading for today Paul challenges us to imitate Christ. We are to be ministers of healing. We are to touch not just the physically sick, but all those whose lives are hurting and need healing in any way possible. It is simply not Christian to ostracize anyone for any reason whatsoever. In the Christian society, even those with the most contagious diseases are cared for in a way that gives them dignity and love. How about those who are spiritually sick? How about those who have left the Church, left Christianity? Are they to be cared for as those who are very sick? Absolutely! The Gospels often note that Jesus was moved with pity for the people as he preached the Kingdom of God. When he faced the troubled, the abandoned, the sick, when stirred by the blind, when crossing paths with the widow of Nain, and today, when face to face with a leper, Jesus was moved not by disgust, not by antagonism, but by compassion. Having compassion and showing mercy are the Christian qualities of great minds and large hearts. Today we are called to allow our hearts to be enlarged by Christianity • AE
St. Dominic Catholic Church • Weekend Schedule
Saturday, February 10, 2024
3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation – Fr. Jaime.
5.00 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime.
Sunday, February 11, 2024
7.30 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.
10.00 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. W. Zapalac.
12.30 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. W. Zapalac
3.00 p.m. Santa Misa en español – Fr. Jaime P.
VI Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo B)
En la sociedad judía el leproso no era sólo un enfermo, era antes que nada un peligro, alguien estigmatizado y sin lugar en la sociedad. El libro del Levítico era contundente: «El leproso llevará las vestiduras rasgadas y la cabeza desgreñada. Irá avisando a gritos: “Impuro, impuro “. Mientras le dura la lepra será impuro. Vivirá aislado y habitará fuera del poblado». La actitud correcta y santa -para más oprobio- sancionada por la Sagrada Escritura, era clara: excluir a los leprosos. Era lo mejor para todos. Para nuestra fortuna, Jesús se rebela ante esta situación. El evangelio de hoy nos presenta el relato del leproso que se le acerca. Aquel hombre no pide ser curado sino quedar limpio. Son dos cosas que parecen lo mismo pero que en realidad no lo son. Lo que ese hombre buscaba era verse liberado de la impureza y del rechazo social. Jesús queda conmovido, extiende su mano, toca al leproso y se le dice claramente «Quiero. Queda limpio». Desde entonces Jesús no acepta una sociedad que excluye a leprosos e impuros. No admite el rechazo social hacia los peligrosos. Jesús toca a aquel hombre para liberarlo de miedos y prejuicios. Lo limpia para decirnos a todos que Dios no excluye ni castiga a nadie con la marginación. Es la sociedad la que pensando sólo en su seguridad levanta barreras y excluye a quienes no considera dignos. Qué fácil es olvidarnos del sufrimiento de delincuentes, drogadictos, prostitutas, vagabundos y desarraigados. Muchos de ellos no han conocido el calor de un hogar, ni la seguridad de un trabajo, ni han tenido amigos que los quieran sin más. Atrapados para siempre, ni saben ni pueden salir de su triste destino. Y nosotros, cristianos tan de golpe de pecho y vela chorreada ¡cuántas veces los miramos sí, con compasión, pero de lejos, sin relacionarnos con ellos y sin hacer nada por ellos! ¿No será este el momento de hacer algo por ellos? • AE
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LA MEDITACION DE LA ESPOSA 