Gospel: Mark
1:40-45
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.
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Reflection:
There was
a man who had a kidney failure. To temporarily extend his life he would submit
himself to a twice a week dialysis treatment. After two years of searching for
a donor he finally found a poor relative who was very willing to donate one of
his kidney.
To facilitate
fast matching and compatibility the donor was invited to stay with the family
of the sick man. He was treated well until it was found out during the battery
of health test that he had AIDS. Naturally he was not anymore fit to be a donor
and fearing contagion all his things were isolated by his relatives including
his utensils.
After the
discovery that he had AIDS their treatment of him radically changed s well. He
was not welcome anymore and he felt his relative’s isolation and ill-treatment.
After a few days he was asked to leave them permanently. We cannot be infected
with AIDS by merely staying with an infected person or by sharing the same
utensils with someone who has AIDS.
In our
gospel we have a man with leprosy (a contagious disease) who humbly went to
Jesus He knelt and begged Jesus to cure him. Jesus had nothing in His heart but
mercy and compassion for the man He touched him and was immediately made clean
without any reservation.
By touching
the man with leprosy Jesus broke the stereotyped ill-treatment of those who
were sick with leprosy. By touching the man with leprosy Jesus’ shows us that
Love, Mercy, Compassion are more powerful than any dreaded disease.
As we
move forward with our lives we shall be meeting or will be acquainted with
people with contagious disease. Or people who are sinful or who lived wayward
and misguided lives. Let us not scorn them, let us not avoid them and let us
not judge them for what they’ve done.
Let us
rather show them that like Jesus our Love, Mercy and Compassion for them are
more powerful than any dreaded and despicable disease. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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