SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B) (Mk 1, 40-45) - I think everyone likes to hear complements. Who does not enjoy when somebody tells us: You were amazing! Congratulations! I really admire you! 

Do you believe God could say something like that about us too? God is so powerful and wise. He knows everything. Nothing is secret for Him, not even our most hidden thoughts or feelings. So, can God say something good about us? 

To answer this question we need to know how God really is. And how is He? 

Today the Gospel talks about a leper who was not obedient to Moses' law. It said: "If the man is leprous and unclean, the priest shall declare him unclean. He shall cry out: 'Unclean, unclean!' He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp". This law was harsh. It was not enough that the man was sick with leoparsy, rather, he had to be isolated from everyone. 

But the Lord Jesus was moved with pity. Furthermore, "he stretched out his hand, touched him". Leprosy is an illness which makes the person look and smell really bad. In spite of this situation, Jesus touched him. God is like this. He does not care if we are really sick or if we look really bad. But in one sense, he does care how we are. What sense? He wants what is best for us, and He wants to give it to us.  

I think God does not always bless us as much as He could because we do not believe in him deep enough. Sometimes we pray to God, forgetting that we are really like the leprous sick. Our illness is not leprosy, but maybe it is pride, laziness, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, envy, sloth, vanity, selfishness, indifference, etc. and when we pray we do not act like the leper: A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Lord, today, in this Mass, by the power of your word I have listened and of your body and blood I am going to receive, I can be healed of my illness. But to live this, we need first to recognize our illness. We need to be brave and honest to accept that we are not perfect, that we make mistakes, that we should say 'I am sorry' more often for our offenses.  

We should be like all those people who knew what happened to the lepers. The gospel says that "people kept coming to him from everywhere". 

How can we get this? I want to propose just two things: the first one, prayer, meditation, being still and reflecting on our life.  We should do this before God. The second one is very close to the first. Every night, before going to bed, we should make an examination of conscience to realize how our day was, what we did, how we did it, what was good, what could be better, and what was bad. 

All of this helps us to be more conscientious about ourselves. It helps also to be humble. It helps to realize that we really need God in our life. 

Just for a while, we present our prayer to the Lord. But let us do it like the leprous, with faith and believing in the Lord Jesus's power.

Thanksgiving

Lord Jesus, thank you for showing me your infinite mercy and love for me.

I need your healing touch to become the saint you created me to be.

I know you want to heal me because you gave me the gift of my faith:

to know and love you and experience the intense joy in following you.

Lord Jesus, Thank you for loving me so much.

How anxiously you wait to fill me with your love,

to heal me from the leprosy of my sins.

Help me to be open to your embrace of healing love,

confident that each time I kneel before you to beg your forgiveness,

you will be moved with pity to touch me and make me clean. Amen. Amen.