Gospel
Matthew 8:1-4
When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds
followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

Reflection
If you're like me, you often think you're unworthy to ask God to do something extraordinary for you. But we must realize that this, Jesus explains something so clearly about the ministry that God has given Jesus. It's to reach out to everyone that's unworthy. That’s not yet what they could be or should be. And all He wants is to heal them.
And so when this man, must have had a lot of courage to come up to Jesus knowing that if he touched him, he would be made unclean and said, Please heal me. And he was healed. And then he was sent to the temple to prove something to the priests. What he might have clearly proved to them, if he told the whole story, was, You all have it wrong at the temple.
Outcasts are what God is wanting, longing to touch and to heal. Not just the good, not just the perfect, but the broken. And it's a sign of such great hope for all of us.

Closing Prayer
Father, don't ever let us doubt your intention to do wonderful things for us. Help us to be patient with the ways in which you answer our prayers. You will answer them. You will bring us to fullness. The fullness that you have for us, not our idea of what it is, but what you've intended us to be. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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