“A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged Him and said, ‘If You wish, You can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’ The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.”
Mass Readings 2.15.15 – FIRST READING: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46 – PSALM 32:1-2, 5, 11 – SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1 – GOSPEL: Mark 1:40-45 – Find a Mass: MassTimes.org – Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com
Links & Resources
- “I do will it. Be cured.”Commentary by Saint Paschasius Radbertus (?-c.849), Benedictine monk, Commentary on Saint Matthew’s Gospel 5,8 – DailyGospel.org
- Pope: Jesus has no ‘proxy’– he touches our wounds with his hands – Catholic News Agency 2.15.15
- Made Clean: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
- How to Lose Your Leprosy (In Four Easy Steps) – A Homily for the 6th Sunday of the Year – Msgr. Charles Pope, Archdiocese of Washington
- Gospel commentary on Jesus healing the leper – Benedict XVI Angelus Feb. 15, 2009
- Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Classic – St. Vincent Archabbey
- Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Modern – St. Vincent Archabbey
- Vatican Radio Liturgical Reflections – 6th Sunday of the Year – February 15, 2015 – from the Homilies of Fr. Anthony Kadavil
GOSPEL
Jesus heals a leper after the leper approaches him with humility and faith.
A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged Him and said, ‘If You wish, You can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’ The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Jesus cautions the leper to keep the matter quiet, and instead to simply make an offering to the (Jewish) priest as Moses prescribed.
Yet the former leper, now referred to simply as “the man,” goes and tells everyone about the healing.
As a result, if Jesus goes to a town, it is impossible to enter openly, presumably because He would be mobbed by people.
Jesus remains in deserted places, where people still come to Him.
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.
We can note the spirit in which the leper comes to Jesus — with faith and humility.
He kneels down and begs Jesus. The leper also professes his belief, his faith, that Jesus does have the Power to heal him, if Jesus only Wills it.
We also see that Jesus cares. He is moved, and feels pity for the man.
And it is with a touch that Jesus heals him.
Jesus has entered the temporal realm, He is Incarnate with a Body, and there is physicality in Him touching the man to heal him. By doing so, Jesus also crosses the boundary that previously made the leper an outcast.
Now, that physical boundary of lepers being apart was not simply unfeeling or prejudicial, but rather practical and respectful of the rights and well-being of persons not yet infected.
So Jesus not only shows His Caring, He also shows that, as the Son of God, indeed the Divine Person through Whom all things were Made, Jesus has Dominion over the physical universe. The physical universe must obey Him, and if He chooses to be impervious to the leprosy, and to banish the leprosy from their midst, His Power guarantees that His Will is obeyed.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
I turn to You, Lord, in time of trouble, and You fill me with the Joy of Salvation.
FIRST READING
FIRST READING: Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
God gives Moses and Aaron a law regarding leprosy, presumably to help prevent its spread among the population.
It involves the leper presenting himself to the Israelite priest to affirm his condition; the leper altering his appearance, and calling out an alert to others as to his presence and status; and the leper making his home outside the camp.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘If someone has [what] appears to be the sore of leprosy … the priest shall declare him unclean ….
‘The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ … He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.’
SECOND READING
SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1
Saint Paul exhorts us to do everything for the Glory of God, and to avoid giving offense.
… whatever you do, do everything for the Glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God …
Paul goes on to explain that he seeks the good of the many, that they will be saved, and that he seeks to imitate Christ. He invites us to imitate him, as he seeks to imitate Christ.
More Resources
- Find a Mass: MassTimes.org
- Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – Basilica in Washington, D.C.
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – Passionists (New York)
- VIDEO: Diocese of Sioux Falls, including Sunday Masses
- VIDEO: Sunday Mass – University of Notre Dame
- VIDEO: Daily Mass – Toronto
- VIDEO: Daily Mass – Boston/Catholic TV