First reading Hebrews 3:7-14
Keep encouraging one another
The Holy Spirit says: If only you would listen to him today; do not harden your hearts, as happened in the Rebellion, on the Day of Temptation in the wilderness, when your ancestors challenged me and tested me, though they had seen what I could do for forty years. That was why I was angry with that generation and said: How unreliable these people who refuse to grasp my ways! And so, in anger, I swore that not one would reach the place of rest I had for them. Take care, brothers, that there is not in any one of your community a wicked mind, so unbelieving as to turn away from the living God. Every day, as long as this ‘today’ lasts, keep encouraging one another so that none of you is hardened by the lure of sin, because we shall remain co-heirs with Christ only if we keep a grasp on our first confidence right to the end.
Responsorial Psalm 94(95):6-11
O that today you would listen to his voice! ‘Harden not your hearts.’
Come in; let us bow and bend low;
let us kneel before the God who made us:
for he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
‘Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as on that day at Massah in the desert
when your fathers put me to the test;
when they tried me, though they saw my work.
For forty years I was wearied of these people
and I said: “Their hearts are astray,
these people do not know my ways.”
Then I took an oath in my anger:
“Never shall they enter my rest.”’
Gospel Mark 1:40-45
The leprosy left the man at once, and he was cured
A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.’ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.’ The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him.
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Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper
In the time of Jesus, lepers were the untouchables and had to keep their distance from the rest. In today’s gospel, when the leper asked Jesus for healing, He not only healed the sick man by means of His words but also through drawing close to him and touching him. This was the extent of Jesus’ love for the people, even those regarded as the untouchables.
Today, let us seek comfort in the depth of Jesus’ love for humanity and each of us. He is a God who is not far away from us. He is a Friend who never fails to love us. He touches our lives, even in our brokenness and misery, to bring us to the fullness of life and love. In this time of prayer, let us go to Jesus and, like the leper, to tell Him, “Lord, if you willing, you can cleanse me. You can give me your peace, joy, and life”.
Reflective question:
What strikes me most as I pray with this gospel passage?
What strikes me most as I pray with this gospel passage?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Sandra Seow FMVD
