READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of Leviticus Lv 13:1-2, 44-46
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch which appears to be the sore of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest, or to one of the priests among his descendants. If the man is leprous and unclean, the priest shall declare him unclean by reason of the sore on his head.
“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!’ As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”
"How blessed are those whose offence is forgiven, whose sin blotted out. How blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt, whose spirit harbours no deceit. I said not a word, but my bones wasted away from groaning all the day; day and night your hand lay heavy upon me; my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought.Pause I made my sin known to you, did not conceal my guilt. I said, 'I shall confess my offence to Yahweh.' And you, for your part, took away my guilt, forgave my sin.Pause That is why each of your faithful ones prays to you in time of distress. Even if great floods overflow, they will never reach your faithful. You are a refuge for me, you guard me in trouble, with songs of deliverance you surround me.Pause I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go; I shall not take my eyes off you. Be not like a horse or a mule; that does not understand bridle or bit; if you advance to master them, there is no means of bringing them near. Countless troubles are in store for the wicked, but one who trusts in Yahweh is enfolded in his faithful love. Rejoice in Yahweh, exult all you upright, shout for joy, you honest of heart." (Ps 32)
Second reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 1 Cor 10:31—11:1
Brothers and sisters, Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Mark Mk 1:40-45
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. Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”
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.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER So often, I think that it may be, I wouldn’t say impossible, but very difficult to do good without getting our hands dirty. And Jesus got dirty with his closeness. But then, He went even further, saying to the man who was freed from his illness: “Go to the priests, and do what must be done when a leper is healed. Jesus includes that man who was excluded from social life: He includes him in the Church, includes him in society. “Go, so that everything is just as it should be”. Jesus never marginalizes anyone, ever. He marginalizes Himself in order to include the marginalized, to include us, sinners, marginalized people, by His life”. (Santa Marta, 26 June 2015)
S. FAUSTI - "I want, be cleansed!" replies Jesus. That is why He went out: to cleanse man of his leprosy. Expelled into the desert, without relations with anyone, man is thrown alive into the hell of solitude. The only law that he is obliged to observe is that of excluding himself by shouting his evil to those who inadvertently approach to him! The law, which discerns between pure and impure, between good and evil, between righteous and sinner, can only rightly distinguish, divide and segregate. In a vain attempt to defend life, it can do nothing but acknowledge death. Jesus, on the other hand, is the "Good News" of One who touches the leper by healing him, forgives the evil by healing him, absolves the sinner, justifying him. Those excluded from the law are the beneficiaries of this gift. In fact, He is doctor, who came for the sick and not for the healthy (2:17). This miracle, introduces a section of five disputes about the difference between the law and the Gospel. At the end, Jesus' death will be decreed. The cleansed leper represents the passage from the old man, whom the law relegates to death, to the new man who proclaims the "good news". He asks for a miracle, he knows what he wants, and he asks for what he wants. What Jesus does to them is an instruction for us, so that we know what to want and ask of Him: exactly the gift that He gives them. His prodigies serve to liberate our deepest aspirations, left unresolved because they were considered impossible. Seeing them realized instead, we have the courage to hope and we begin to ask, opening our hand to receive what He wants to give us. The brief Words that Jesus adds to the miracles are an education of these desires: they explain what He wants to give me beyond my own desires, which always remain ambiguous as long as they are moved more by my fears than by His promises. Only in this way can I respond correctly to His question: "What do you want I should do to you?" and ask, wanting, what He wants to give me. In the miracle neither the name, nor the place, nor the time is said, so that the name is mine, the place is here and the time is now, When I listen to the Gospel, the former leper himself proclaims it, like Jesus, if I convert and entrust myself to Jesus, for me what is told is fulfilled here and now. All that Jesus does and says in the continuation of the Gospel is what He wants to give me and what I can, indeed I must, desire from Him, with humility and trust, insistently asking for it.
DIAC. Lodovico Ing. Giarlotto Gospel. Leprosy was a great symbol around which religious fears and taboos gathered. Torn clothes, uncovered head, veiled beard as a sign of mourning, signaling one's contagious impurity ("unclean, unclean!") were the obligatory instruments of identification for lepers, as chapter 13 of Leviticus clearly indicates. The leprosy patient is an excommunicated person, a walking corpse and his eventual healing was considered a real miracle, a resurrection from the dead. The theological aspect was fundamental and drew on the theory of retribution: sin corresponds to punishment. If sickness was considered the punishment of sin, what enormous guilt must have been at the basis of leprosy! The legal and religious incubus of this disease is decisive to understand the human and spiritual drama of the leper. The leper approaches to Jesus and supplicates Him on his knees to be purified. He does not ask for healing but to be purified, that is, to be enabled to return to the community. More than the disease itself, what distressed him was the fact of being excluded from civil and religious society. Jesus reaches out his hand, touches him and heals him. In order to understand what happened, it is necessary to examine the sequence of the verbs used. The first one is "to move with compassion" (literally: to have bowels of tenderness) towards the desperate anguish of that man. Jesus "extends His hand" in the typical gesture of the Lord Liberator in the exodus. Then He goes further, He wants to "touch" him, violating the rules of ritual purity, sharing his destiny, breaking his isolation. On this act of sharing lies the decisive words: "I want it, heal!". Jesus heals directly, not through prayer and waiting for seven days as in the case of Mary, the sister of Moses (Numbers 12:4-16), nor through the seven immersions of Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:8-14). He intervenes with the authority of His Word. At this point, the strict admonition: "Do not say anything to anyone ...", to avoid that the Messiah could be identified as a miracle worker. In spite of the prohibition imposed by Jesus, the sick person proclaims the event that happened to him and the narration of the healing is as effective as the preaching. The experience of salvation is the foundation of the mission. And the enthusiasm aroused around Jesus is such that he "could no longer enter a city publicly" (v. 45).
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of Leviticus
Lv 13:1-2, 44-46
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
“If someone has on his skin a scab or pustule or blotch
which appears to be the sore of leprosy,
he shall be brought to Aaron, the priest,
or to one of the priests among his descendants.
If the man is leprous and unclean,
the priest shall declare him unclean
by reason of the sore on his head.
“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!’
As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean,
since he is in fact unclean.
He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”
"How blessed are those whose offence is forgiven,
whose sin blotted out.
How blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt,
whose spirit harbours no deceit.
I said not a word, but my bones wasted
away from groaning all the day;
day and night your hand lay heavy upon me;
my heart grew parched as stubble
in summer drought.Pause
I made my sin known to you, did not conceal my guilt.
I said, 'I shall confess my offence to Yahweh.' And you, for your part, took away my guilt, forgave my sin.Pause
That is why each of your faithful ones prays
to you in time of distress.
Even if great floods overflow, they will
never reach your faithful.
You are a refuge for me,
you guard me in trouble, with songs of deliverance
you surround me.Pause
I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go;
I shall not take my eyes off you.
Be not like a horse or a mule;
that does not understand bridle or bit;
if you advance to master them,
there is no means of bringing them near.
Countless troubles are in store for the wicked,
but one who trusts in Yahweh
is enfolded in his faithful love.
Rejoice in Yahweh, exult all you upright,
shout for joy, you honest of heart." (Ps 32)
Second reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians
1 Cor 10:31—11:1
Brothers and sisters,
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for the glory of God.
Avoid giving offense, whether to the Jews or Greeks or
the church of God,
just as I try to please everyone in every way,
not seeking my own benefit but that of the many,
that they may be saved.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 1:40-45
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.
Then, warning the him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
He said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
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.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
So often, I think that it may be, I wouldn’t say impossible, but very difficult to do good without getting our hands dirty. And Jesus got dirty with his closeness. But then, He went even further, saying to the man who was freed from his illness: “Go to the priests, and do what must be done when a leper is healed. Jesus includes that man who was excluded from social life: He includes him in the Church, includes him in society. “Go, so that everything is just as it should be”. Jesus never marginalizes anyone, ever. He marginalizes Himself in order to include the marginalized, to include us, sinners, marginalized people, by His life”. (Santa Marta, 26 June 2015)
RispondiEliminaS. FAUSTI - "I want, be cleansed!" replies Jesus. That is why He went out: to cleanse man of his leprosy.
Expelled into the desert, without relations with anyone, man is thrown alive into the hell of solitude.
The only law that he is obliged to observe is that of excluding himself by shouting his evil to those who inadvertently approach to him!
The law, which discerns between pure and impure, between good and evil, between righteous and sinner, can only rightly distinguish, divide and segregate. In a vain attempt to defend life, it can do nothing but acknowledge death.
Jesus, on the other hand, is the "Good News" of One who touches the leper by healing him, forgives the evil by healing him,
absolves the sinner, justifying him. Those excluded from the law are the beneficiaries of this gift.
In fact, He is doctor, who came for the sick and not for the healthy (2:17).
This miracle, introduces a section of five disputes about the difference between the law and the Gospel.
At the end, Jesus' death will be decreed. The cleansed leper represents the passage from the old man, whom the law relegates to death, to the new man who proclaims the "good news".
He asks for a miracle, he knows what he wants, and he asks for what he wants.
What Jesus does to them is an instruction for us, so that we know what to want and ask of Him: exactly the gift that He gives them. His prodigies serve to liberate our deepest aspirations, left unresolved because they were considered impossible. Seeing them realized instead, we have the courage to hope and we begin to ask, opening our hand to receive what He wants to give us.
The brief Words that Jesus adds to the miracles are an education of these desires: they explain what He wants to give me beyond my own desires, which always remain ambiguous as long as they are moved more by my fears than by His promises.
Only in this way can I respond correctly to His question: "What do you want I should do to you?" and ask, wanting, what He wants to give me.
In the miracle neither the name, nor the place, nor the time is said, so that the name is mine, the place is here and the time is now, When I listen to the Gospel, the former leper himself proclaims it, like Jesus, if I convert and entrust myself to Jesus, for me what is told is fulfilled here and now.
All that Jesus does and says in the continuation of the Gospel is what He wants to give me and what I can, indeed I must, desire from Him, with humility and trust, insistently asking for it.
RispondiEliminaDIAC. Lodovico Ing. Giarlotto
Gospel. Leprosy was a great symbol around which religious fears and taboos gathered. Torn clothes, uncovered head, veiled beard as a sign of mourning, signaling one's contagious impurity ("unclean, unclean!") were the obligatory instruments of identification for lepers, as chapter 13 of Leviticus clearly indicates. The leprosy patient is an excommunicated person, a walking corpse and his eventual healing was considered a real miracle, a resurrection from the dead. The theological aspect was fundamental and drew on the theory of retribution: sin corresponds to punishment. If sickness was considered the punishment of sin, what enormous guilt must have been at the basis of leprosy!
The legal and religious incubus of this disease is decisive to understand the human and spiritual drama of the leper. The leper approaches to Jesus and supplicates Him on his knees to be purified. He does not ask for healing but to be purified, that is, to be enabled to return to the community. More than the disease itself, what distressed him was the fact of being excluded from civil and religious society. Jesus reaches out his hand, touches him and heals him. In order to understand what happened, it is necessary to examine the sequence of the verbs used. The first one is "to move with compassion" (literally: to have bowels of tenderness) towards the desperate anguish of that man. Jesus "extends His hand" in the typical gesture of the Lord Liberator in the exodus. Then He goes further, He wants to "touch" him, violating the rules of ritual purity, sharing his destiny, breaking his isolation. On this act of sharing lies the decisive words: "I want it, heal!".
Jesus heals directly, not through prayer and waiting for seven days as in the case of Mary, the sister of Moses (Numbers 12:4-16), nor through the seven immersions of Naaman the Syrian (2 Kings 5:8-14). He intervenes with the authority of His Word. At this point, the strict admonition: "Do not say anything to anyone ...", to avoid that the Messiah could be identified as a miracle worker. In spite of the prohibition imposed by Jesus, the sick person proclaims the event that happened to him and the narration of the healing is as effective as the preaching. The experience of salvation is the foundation of the mission. And the enthusiasm aroused around Jesus is such that he "could no longer enter a city publicly" (v. 45).