RE: 02.09.12~Readings for Sunday, Feb 12th-2012

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ADULT FAITH ENRICHMENT
A Quick Journey Through The Bible – 8 week session
A Biblical Walk Through The Mass—5 week session
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FEBRUARY 12, 2012
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 77
READING 1 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."
RESPONSORIAL PSALM PS 32:1-2, 5, 11
R. (7) I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, "I confess my faults to the LORD,"
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you just;
exult, all you upright of heart.
R. I turn to you, Lord, in time of trouble, and you fill me with the joy of salvation.
READING 2 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 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.

SUNDAY READINGS - 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time
FIRST READING: Leviticus 13:1-2; 45-46. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests.
"The leper who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry, 'Unclean, unclean.' He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean, he shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp."
EXPLANATION: This book which is concerned with the regulating of Israelite worship, gets the name Leviticus because this worship was to be carried out by the tribe of Levi. It was the Septuagint, the Greek translation, which first gave the book this name. As well as laws regulating worship, the ordination of priests, their duties and rights, it has rules concerning food, legal purity and impurity. It also lays down regulations as regards certain bodily diseases which made a person unclean and a menace to the health of his neighbors. Leprosy was one such disease. It was the duty of the priests to declare a man infected or not by leprosy. The priest examined a patient and declared him a leper; the patient had then to live in isolation outside the camp or the dwelling-place of the people, to prevent the spread of the dreaded disease. In this chapter 13, other skin diseases are included for the possibility of a cure occurring is mentioned, but real leprosy at that time and for centuries after was deemed incurable. But any infectious skin disease made the patient unfit to take part in the religious rites, and, to protect the others, he was isolated until cured.
swelling...spot: Any of these symptoms could be the beginning of leprosy.
Aaron...priests: Aaron was the first Chief Priest and all his sons were associated with him in the priesthood. All the male members of the other families of the tribe of Levi were "Levites" whose office and duty was to help the priests in the offering of sacrifices and other acts of divine worship.
wear torn clothes: The poor unfortunate had not only to live in isolation but he had to warn anyone approaching him both by his dress and by word of mouth, that he was unclean and should be avoided.
cover...lip: The patient had to let the hair of his head grow long and also cover his face with a beard so that nobody could mistake him for a healthy person.
as long...disease: As said above, the fact that one could gradually get rid of this skin-affection indicates that it was not leprosy in the strict sense.
dwell alone: The man pronounced a leper had to live away from his fellow-men. He could take no part in their life or their liturgy, for according to the Hebrew mentality, one having such a disease was struck by God and therefore unfit to worship him.
APPLICATION: Man was made to live in the society of his fellowman. His nature needs the comfort and the sustaining support of his family and neighbors. To be isolated from them, to be compelled to live a life apart must be the hardest lot that could befall a human being. This was the sad lot of lepers in the Old Testament times and well into New Testament days as well. Thanks to the progress of medicine and of Christian charity there are hardly any cases of complete isolation today. There are cures for all infectious and contagious diseases including most forms of leprosy, today. There are medical means of protection against infection and contagion which means that no patients need to be in strict isolation. They can be visited and consoled by their relatives, friends and charitable neighbors, and their cross of suffering in loneliness is lightened for them.
There are, however, other cases of isolation not caused by any disease but rather resulting from lack of thought or lack of true fraternal charity on the part of fellowman. There are elderly people in hospitals and in homes for the aged whose relatives are all dead and who have no one to visit them or to cheer them and help them to carry their cross. Here is an occasion for the true Christian to put his religion into practice. "I was sick and you visited me," Christ says to the just on the last day. Yes, if we visit and console a fellowman, a brother of Christ, we are visiting and consoling Christ. There are, thank God, a few who practice this very necessary form of charity, but many more are needed.
There are also individuals and sometimes families in almost every community, who seem to be isolated or left coldly to themselves. It may be partly their own fault---they show no inclination to mix with their neighbors, they may even resent any intrusion on their privacy---but this does not excuse the truly Christian neighbor from trying to make such individuals or families feel at home and welcome in their neighborhood. The charitable person will find ways and means of integrating such people into their local community, and of making life less solitary and therefore, more bearable for them.
Think again on the sad fate of the lepers of old, cut off from all human fellowship, compelled to warn all to keep at a safe distance, lest they become infected. If you had been there, would you not have tried to help those poor unfortunate people, if only with a word of encouragement and consolation from afar? You were not there, but you have today plenty of opportunities to exercise charity toward lonely or isolated neighbors, who are within the reach of your kindness, if you are truly kind. You need not fear any contamination of body or mind, in fact, the kindly, friendly encounter with such people who are so much in need of friendship and kindness will have an elevating effect on your own life and cannot but bring you closer to God. "I was a stranger and you made me welcome; I was sick and I you visited me; I tell you solemnly insofar as you did this to the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me" (Mt. 25: 35-40).
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SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 10: 31-11: 1. Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
EXPLANATION: There were pagan temples in Corinth in which animals were sacrificed to the gods. The meat which was not burned in the sacrifice was often sold in the market-place. Some of St. Paul's converts, both Jews and Gentiles, had scruples regarding the eating of such meat---it could mean participating in the honor given to a pagan god. St. Paul's general answer was that as "the earth and all that is in it is the property of the Lord" a Christian can lawfully eat any meat placed before him and need not be concerned as to its origin. But if the use of this lawful freedom should scandalize a weaker brother who would think this Christian was intending to honor the pagan gods, then the Christian should deny himself this freedom. This discussion on meat offered to pagan gods or idols, in 10: 23-30, leads up to today's exhortation which is to do everything for God's glory, giving offense to nobody. In doing this they will be imitating St. Paul their Apostle, who himself was a close imitator of Christ.
eat or drink: The ordinary everyday actions of men, human action like eating or drinking, if done in moderation and for God's glory, will merit a reward for the one so acting.
offense...Greek: As Christians they had an obligation to give good example by doing what was right, and to abstain from any act which would prevent any Jew or Gentile from becoming members of Christ's Church.
Church of God: If, through some offense of theirs, a Jew or Gentle is prevented from becoming a Christian, they are offending against the Church of God, the universal community of believers, for they are impeding its expansion.
please all men: Paul tried always to be all things to all men (see last Sunday's second reading).
my own advantage: He wanted nothing for himself in this life, not even the things he might lawfully have had.
but...be saved: His one and only ambition was to bring God's good news, the gospel of Christ, to as many as possible, so that they would inherit the eternal kingdom that Christ had earned for them.
be imitators of me: Paul asks his converts to be all things to all men, as he was.
I am of Christ: In giving his all for his fellowmen, Paul was surely imitating Christ, who became a slave so that men would be free; who became man so that men could become sons of God; who died a shameful death so that men could have eternal life. This was self-giving to a degree that neither Paul nor any other mere human could ever equal, but they could follow him from afar.
APPLICATION: If I were to ask each one of you: "what did you do for God's honor and glory since last Sunday?" would you have to stop and think and maybe answer: "I did nothing except a few hurried prayers said at night." Those who would answer thus have not a proper understanding of what living the Christian life means. From the moment of his baptism a Christian's life is a life dedicated to God's glory and leading to his own eternal reward on his last day. Every act of a Christian's day, his recreation as well as his work, his joys as well as his sorrows, his sleeping as well as his waking hour, gives honor and glory to God, and earns heaven for the Christian. This is the real meaning of living a Christian life. This is what St. Paul tells us today when he says : "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." This is how St. Paul himself lived and acted and became a great saint. Undoubtedly, he gave most of his time to teaching the gospel to others, but he also worked with his hands, ate some meals, slept some hours at least each night, had moments of recreation or relaxation with friends, but he offered it all to God and it all added to God's gory and to his own sanctification. God lived more and more in him and with him each day that dawned. There are millions of saints in heaven who did nothing extraordinary in their whole lives but they lived their ordinary lives honestly and well. It should not be too hard for the weakest of us to do this. It will help us to do our daily tasks more faithfully if each morning we offer our day to the honor and glory of God. This morning offering can be made while dressing, or while on our way to work and if sometimes we forget it, God will understand.
So the true answer to what did you do for God's honor and glory since last Sunday is: I have given him seven days' service; I have honored him in all my doings' This will be true for every Christian who has been honest in all his doings and who has lived within the laws of God, of his Church, and of his country. We cannot honor God with a dishonest act, we can give no glory to God while willfully disobeying in serious matters the commandments of God or of his Church, or the lawful enactment's of the State. But our merciful God knows how weak our human nature can be at times, and has given us an easy means of rising again should we fall into disobedience. The sincere Christian who realizes that our daily tasks, if they are carried out while we are not in God's friendship, are not capable of honoring God or earning our own eternal salvation, will rise quickly from sin and return to God's friendship. To sin is partly human frailty and partly human folly; to remain deliberately in sin is criminal injustice to God and to ourselves, because all those days, weeks, and months perhaps, are squandered and wasted as far as God and our eternal destiny are concerned.
Let us try, from now on, to imitate St. Paul by devoting twenty-four hours each day to the honor and glory of God. We do not have to say any extra prayers; we do not have to do any unusual mortification's but if we do each task of each day faithfully and truly, we shall be honoring God daily and storing up a priceless reward for ourselves in heaven.
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GOSPEL: Mark 1: 40-45. A leper came to Jesus beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people." But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
EXPLANATION: During the first day of his public ministry in Galilee Jesus cured all sorts of diseases and cast out demons (Mk. 1 :21-34). On the next day he performed what was looked on as the greatest miracle of all, he healed a leper. Although at least some of the cases called leprosy in Leviticus (see first reading) were not real leprosy but some other form of skin-disease, at the time of Christ in Palestine leprosy was looked on as incurable. According to the rabbis "the healing of leprosy was as difficult as the raising of the dead." But Christ was able to raise the dead too. There were many lepers in Palestine (as well as in all countries) at that time. This man was most probably living near Capernaum and through some friend or relative had heard of the miracles of healing which Christ had worked there on the previous day. Filled with hope and faith, he approached Christ as he was leaving Capernaum, and asked for a miracle. His request was granted.
kneeling said to him: Putting himself in the most humble posture---on his knees---he made his request.
if You...can: He shows absolute faith in Christ's power to heal him even from this incurable disease. All that is needed is that Christ deigns to befriend him.
I will; be clean: Moved with pity for the Poor sufferer, who was cut off from all human intercourse because of his disease, Christ answered: "I will." and then touching him with his hand he gave the command "be clean" or "be made clean." As leprosy was a decaying of the skin and eventually of the flesh and bones, the term used for healing it was a cleansing---a removal of the filth of rotting flesh and a restoration of clean flesh and skin.
was made clean: The cure was instantaneous.
say...anyone: Christ warned the cured leper to say nothing to the people about this miracle but to go to Jerusalem (or wherever the nearest priest could be found) and get a declaration of complete health from him. Only the priests could give this declaration.
offer...cleansing: Moses (Leviticus 14 :1-32) ordered that certain ceremonies should be performed by the priest who declared a leper free of his disease, and certain offerings for sacrifice should be made by the cured leper.
a proof...people: The people who had known a man as a leper would now have the priest's guarantee that he was free of the disease and was no longer a danger to their health.
talk...it: It would seem ungrateful if this cured leper were immediately and openly to disobey his benefactor, but most likely he felt an obligation to spread the fame of this generous miracle-worker. This often happened during Christ's public life.
Jesus...town: The result of the publishing of this extraordinary miracle as well as of the others performed in Capernaum, was that everybody gathered into any town Jesus was approaching, and so it would be impossible to preach to them or to cure their diseases.
out in the country: He therefore stayed in the open country where large crowds could and did gather from every quarter. Even then it was sometimes difficult to address the throngs that came to hear him (see Lk. 5:3).
APPLICATION: We see both the divine power and the divine compassion of Jesus in this act of healing. The divine power was necessary in all instantaneous cures. Even if the diseases were curable, the ordinary process of nature took time to fight off the causes and to return to normality. Therefore, where there was an instantaneous recovery some power above nature, some supernatural cause brought it about. But where the disease was incurable, as real leprosy then was, to remove it by a simple word of command was more emphatically still the result of divine power. This divine power Jesus had, for he was himself divine, the Son of God.
His compassion for suffering humanity was, however, co-terminous with his power, it was also divine. It was out of compassion for the sad lot of the human race on earth that he descended to man's level, becoming man, equal to us in all things except sin, in order to suffer with us and for us. By his human sufferings he made an atonement, a satisfaction for all the sins of the world---a satisfaction which all mankind could never make---to his heavenly Father, and so obtained for us God's pardon. At the same time, by joining our human nature to his divine nature, he brought us into the divine orbit and made us adopted sons of God and heirs of the eternal life of the Blessed Trinity. Because this seems almost too good to be true, there are men who deny it or refuse to accept it. Such men make the mistake of measuring the infinite compassion of God with the limited yard-stick of their own finite and puny compassion.
Thanks be to God, for his infinite compassion! Thanks be to God, for Christ his Son, who came and dwelt amongst us! He put heaven and a share in the life of God within our reach; he has, shown us how to attain them, giving in his Church and the sacraments, all the necessary aids. But we still need all of Christ's compassion if we are to get there. Because of our inclination to sin and because of the many times we unfortunately give in to that inclination, nothing but the mercy of God can save us from our own folly. However, that mercy is available, if only we ask for it. What we sinners need is the faith and confidence of the leper in today's gospel reading. He believed firmly in the power and the mercy of Jesus. "If you will, you can make me clean," was his approach to Jesus.
This should be our approach too, if we have the misfortune to fall into serious sin. Jesus does will and does want our salvation. His incarnation, and death on the cross, proves that. The fact that he left the power to forgive sins to his Church is another proof of both his will and desire to help us. "All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth," he stated. Part of that power which he left to his Church is in the sacrament of penance where the leprosy of sin can be washed away and the sinner restored to new and perfect spiritual health. What folly for any Christian then, to commit sin and isolate himself, like the unclean leper, from God. But it is greater folly still, to remain in this unclean state when the cure for his disease is so easily available to any sincere penitent.-b109
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