『Faith moves not only mountains – it moves the hands and heart of God as well.』

The leprosy-affected man, daring to approach Jesus and express such hope in God’s love.

love of God had indeed manifested itself in our midst, dwelling among us,

We need to be forgiven and healed. When we are able to forgive others and heal them

with the love that God has loved us with, we reveal God to others.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

1 John 5:5-13

Who has overcome the world?

The one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus Christ was acknowledged through water, but also through blood. Not only water,

but water and blood. And the Spirit, too, witnesses to him, for the Spirit is truth.

There are, then, three testimonies: The Spirit, the water and the blood, and these three witnesses agree.

 

If we accept human testimony, with greater reason must we accept that of God,

given in favor of his Son. If you believe in the Son of God, you have God's testimony in you.

But those who do not believe, make God a liar, since they do not believe his words when he witnesses to his Son.

 

What has God said? That he has granted us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

The one who has the Son has life, those who do not have the Son of God do not have life.

I write you, then, all these things, that you may know, that you have eternal life,

all you, who believe in the name of the Son of God.

 

Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 5:12-16

One day, in another town, a man came to Jesus covered with leprosy.

On seeing Jesus, the man bowed down to the ground, and said, "Lord, if you want to,

you can make me clean." Stretching out his hand, Jesus touched the man and said,

"Yes, I want to. Be clean." In an instant, the leprosy left him.

Then Jesus instructed him, "Tell this to no one. But go, and show yourself to the priest.

 

Make an offering for your healing, as Moses prescribed; that will serve as evidence for them."

But the news about Jesus spread all the more; and large crowds came to him,

to listen and to be healed of their sickness. As for Jesus, he would often withdraw to solitary places and pray.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"Be clean."

The leper in today's Gospel is an outcast from his community.

He is ritually unclean because of his sickness, and so he is shunned, avoided, feared.

No one goes near him. And yet, Jesus does. In fact, he goes further than that;

he touches him. He makes the leper feel human again.

Jesus restores the man's dignity even before he heals him.

 

By touching and healing the man, Jesus makes himself an outcast so that the man can go free.

This miracle foreshadows what Christ would do on the cross.

By becoming one of us, he touches our frail humanity and by his rejection and death he heals us

of our sin and restores us to the freedom of children of God, blessed with the hope of eternal life.

 

Christ's healing touch also encourages us to imitate his care for those at the margins of society,

treating them with respect as human beings, rather than as problems to be avoided.