Gospel for June 26, 2009, Friday
Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. | 06/26/2009 12:19 AM
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12th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gen 17:9–10, 15–22
Gospel: Mt 8:1–4
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.
Then a leper came forward. He knelt before him and said, “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to, be clean again.” At that very moment the man was cleansed from his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone, but go to the priest, have yourself declared clean, and offer the gift that Moses ordered as proof of it.”
Commentary
Today, we have another account of Jesus cleansing a leper. There is a part of each one of us that is like the leper, in need of healing. Once we recognize that we are all in need of healing, God will have compassion on us. Then again, once God shows compassion to us, we should want to show compassion to each other…in fact, to everyone on the planet.
We have a whole new set of lepers today, people whom we ostracize, whom we exclude and excommunicate, declare unclean and push aside. In our culture, we ostracize people on death row, people with AIDS, people with disabilities, people who are Muslim, or people who are just different. We often think they’re the cause of our problems: let’s push them aside or imprison them or ignore their sufferings; or kill them and get rid of them. Then, we’ll be OK; we’ll be safe; we’ll be secure. But, like Jesus, we must side with the lepers of our time, cultivate a heart of compassion, stretch out our hands and welcome them into our community. We have to reconcile with everyone everywhere. Only then, like Jesus, will we become people of infinite compassion!
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