A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

In today’s reading, Jesus continues to journey throughout Galilee, preaching, driving out demons, and curing the sick. After curing the leper, he warns him not to say anything, but the man speaks about his experience, making it, as Mark says, “impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.” He stayed in deserted places, but people kept coming to him from everywhere. Still, it was Jesus’ will that the man should be made clean, and Jesus’ pity for him is expressed in seven words: “I do will it. Be made clean.” In telling the leper to offer for his cleansing what Moses prescribed, Jesus restores the man to his community and to the means of sanctifying his life. Apart from physical health, are there mental or spiritual illnesses in society—or personal ones—that keep me from participating fully in my Catholic faith? What role do the sacraments have in restoring me to sanctity? In whatever needs to be cleansed in my relationship with Christ, today I want to hear his voice say, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

Lord, as a penitent who needs to be made clean continually, I hear your voice in the absolution after confession as the priest says: “God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Help me understand that as I come to you for mercy and forgiveness, you are there to meet me because it is your will that nothing separates me from your love.

Be with me today, Lord, as I strive to keep you before my eyes. The commotion of the day distracts me, but you are there too. Your voice calls me back to you. From the Responsorial Psalm, help me recall “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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