First reading 1 John 5:5-13
There are three witnesses: the Spirit and the water and the blood
Who can overcome the world?
Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God:
Jesus Christ who came by water and blood,
not with water only,
but with water and blood;
with the Spirit as another witness –
since the Spirit is the truth –
so that there are three witnesses,
the Spirit, the water and the blood,
and all three of them agree.
We accept the testimony of human witnesses,
but God’s testimony is much greater,
and this is God’s testimony,
given as evidence for his Son.
Everybody who believes in the Son of God
has this testimony inside him;
and anyone who will not believe God
is making God out to be a liar,
because he has not trusted
the testimony God has given about his Son.
This is the testimony:
God has given us eternal life
and this life is in his Son;
anyone who has the Son has life,
anyone who does not have the Son does not have life.
I have written all this to you
so that you who believe in the name of the Son of God
may be sure that you have eternal life.
Responsorial Psalm 147:12-15,19-20
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Zion, praise your God!
He has strengthened the bars of your gates
he has blessed the children within you.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
He established peace on your borders,
he feeds you with finest wheat.
He sends out his word to the earth
and swiftly runs his command.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
He makes his word known to Jacob,
to Israel his laws and decrees.
He has not dealt thus with other nations;
he has not taught them his decrees.
O praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 4:14-22
‘If you want to, you can cure me’
Jesus was in one of the towns when a man appeared, covered with leprosy. Seeing Jesus he fell on his face and implored him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once. He ordered him to tell no one, ‘But go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering for your healing as Moses prescribed it, as evidence for them.’
His reputation continued to grow, and large crowds would gather to hear him and to have their sickness cured, but he would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.
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Reaching out to show love
In Jesus’ time, leprosy was considered a terrible, incurable illness and lepers were excluded from society. In the gospel today, a leper ignored the distance he had to maintain from the rest of the people, rushed out to Jesus and desperately begged Him, “Sir, if you are willing, you can cleanse me”. Jesus did not move away, but He looked at the man with concern, not fear, with love, not rejection. He then did a radical thing by reaching out to touch the leper’s disfigured face and his rotting flesh. His touch revealed His compassionate love for this suffering man.
There are times when we feel like the leper. We can be overlooked and rejected by others. In these moments, like the leper, we need to go to Jesus and find comfort in the love that He has for us. Filled with Jesus’ love, He invites us to reach out and touch the “lepers” of today’s society, i.e. those people who are often unloved and unwelcomed, by showing them love. Jesus does not remain indifferent to the needs of others. Neither should we.
Question for reflection:
Do I find it challenging to love the ones I find hard to love?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr. Sandra Seow FMVD.
