Thursday, January 12, 20171st Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Heb 3:7-14 Gospel Reading: Mk 1:40-45
A leper came to Jesus and begged him, “If you so will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” The leprosy left the man at once and he was made clean. As Jesus sent the man away, he sternly warned him, “Don’t tell anyone about this, but go and show yourself to the priest and for the cleansing bring the offering ordered by Moses; in this way you will make your declaration.”
However, as soon as the man went out, he began spreading the news everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter any town. But even though he stayed in the rural areas, people came to him from everywhere.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
This predilection for outcasts, such as lepers, found full expression when later he became like them – abandoned, and even physically disfigured. Veronica was there to capture this disfigured image of “Jesus Forsaken” in her veil. He was also treated worse than public sinners, being condemned to the worst form of death penalty. Yet the crime written over his head was only “INRI”, for “Iesus Nazarenum Rex Iodeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). Even the good thief testified that he was innocent.
Pope John Paul II referred to Jesus as the image and symbol of lepers while hanging on the cross. He said Isaiah had foreseen this when he contemplated the mystery of the Servant of the Lord. Isaiah wrote: “There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, neither the appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men… one of those from whom men hide their faces…while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:2-4).
Solidarity with the humblest is supposed to be the mark of the Church as it manifests in the world Christ’s predilection for the marginalized. PCP II reaffirmed this when it underlined the Church’s preferential option for the poor strongly anchored on Jesus’ preference to leave the ninety-nine to search for the lost sheep. This year 2017, the CBCP invites us to deepen this spirituality of solidarity by declaring 2017 as Year of the Parish as communion of communities. The framework is centrality of the Eucharist in the ongoing process of conversion, fellowship, service, and sharing of one’s giftedness.
Let us deepen our sense of solidarity with one another, especially with the marginalized, even if we are marginalized ourselves. This way, outcasts will continue to feel Christ’s warm embrace within our Parish communities. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr. D.M.
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