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 kidneys.
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 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 has AIDS
their behavior towards him radically changed as 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.
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.
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 in this journey
called life 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 our Love, Mercy
and Compassion. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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