Reflection for January 16 Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time: Mark 1:40-45

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:

The story is told of a man who had kidney failure. To temporarily extend his life, he submitted himself to twice-a-week dialysis treatments. 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 had AIDS, their behavior towards him radically changed as well. He was no longer welcome, and he felt his relatives' isolation and ill-treatment. A few days later, 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 love, mercy and compassion for the man. So, He touched him and was immediately made clean.

By touching the man with leprosy Jesus broke the stereotypical ill-treatment of those who were sick with leprosy. By touching the man with leprosy Jesus shows us that love, mercy and compassion are more powerful than any dreaded disease.

As we move forward in this journey called life we will meet or be acquainted with people with contagious diseases. 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.

Let us help them heal by giving them our unconditional LOVE, MERCY and COMPASSION. – Marino J. Dasmarinas