Reflection.
How do I react to this story? How do I
find this passage? How do I feel about it? Does it put me down or does it lift
my heart?
Does it attract me? Why? Does it trouble
me? Why? What memories does it invoke, painful or pleasant? What values and
attitudes does it reflect?
What light does it throw on my own story?
Does it confirm it or does it challenge it? How do I feel about the characters,
their actions, and the words they say? Who do I identify with or who do I
reject?
This story is still happening today in
people who have been alienated from society or who are ostracised by the
community because of addiction or a prison sentence. They come humbly pleading
for help from someone who will make it possible for them to return and be
accepted by the community.
Jesus is alive and active today in
people, who reach out to the outcasts of society and express their willingness
to work with them in the hope that eventually they can return to society, cured
of their problems.
Jesus is alive and active today in people
who bring healing by their touch into the lives of people who are ill
physically or emotionally. They stretch out their hand to them and give of
their time and patience until they regain their health.
Who are these people in my life, in my
family, in my community, in the world today? Who are the untouchables in my
life, in the community?
This story is taking place in my life
too, sometimes I feel rejected or marginalized like the leper, at other times I
stretch out my hand to bring healing to those in need, at other times I make it
possible for the outcast in the family or in the community to return and be
accepted.
Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand
and touched him. “Of course I want to!” he said, “Be cured!”
Can you remember a time when you
stretched out your hand to an ‘untouchable’ – forgiving someone who had let you
down or offended you, bringing back a ‘black sheep’ into the fold of the
family, going out of your way to make a shy or fearful newcomer welcome in the
workplace, in the neighbourhood or in the community?
We thank you, Lord,
for the people who have spent their lives working with the untouchables of
society all over the world, Fr, Damien with the lepers of Molokai, Mother
Teresa with the untouchables in India, the Samaritans with the outcasts and the
broken of our own times and our own society.
Forgive us, Lord,
for the times when we have made lepers of people in our own lives by avoiding
them and banishing them from our company because of some hurt or disagreement,
refusing to stretch out our hand to them and touch them in forgiveness and
friendship when they came pleading on their knees saying, “If you want to, you
can cure me.”
Lord, we pray that
as a Church we may have the compassion of Jesus and be prepared to apply the
spirit of the Law rather than the letter, and stretch out our hands to touch
the lives of all who feel the pain of isolation, and make them feel part of the
community.
A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: “If
you want to” he said, “you can cure me.”
Have you ever had the experience of
feeling unwanted, of not having your dignity as a person recognised, of being
outside the circle of family or community or Church, of longing to be a part of
something, of being made feel unwelcome or worthless, of being a ‘leper’ in any
situation? What was the feeling like?
I thank you, Lord,
for all the people in my life, in my family, in my community and Church who
have welcomed me and made me feel at home and part of the group. They were
always aware of shy and diffident people and stretched out the hand of welcome
to everyone, leaving no one to languish on the margins.
Forgive me, Lord,
for the times when I applied the letter of the Law and refused to be
compassionate and forgiving towards people who had put themselves outside the
community or the Church by their way of life or their inability to abide by the
rules.
We pray, Lord, that
as a Church that we would not be rigid and unbending towards those who have
become outcasts because of their failure to observe the rules and regulations
but who still feel part of the Church and long to be able to play a full part
in the life of the Church. Help us to find ways of stretching out our hands in
healing towards them.
“Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show
yourself to the priest”……. The man went away, but then started talking about it
freely and telling the story everywhere.
Can you remember a situation where
something wonderful happened in your life and you couldn’t resist going about
telling your good news everywhere, even though you were asked to keep it quiet?
What did it feel like to have such good news?
We thank you, Lord,
for the ‘Good News’ which we hear every Sunday in the readings of the Eucharist
and for the insights we receive by meditating on your word and meeting you in
the events of your life as you walked the roads of Palestine bringing the reign
of God into the lives of all with whom you came in contact.
Forgive us, Lord,
for our failure to recognise the ‘Good News’, which we as Christians possess
for the world today and for our failure to talk about it freely and tell it
everywhere so that people from all around would come to you.
Lord, give us the
wisdom to recognise the treasure we hold in the ‘Good News’ of your kingdom and
give us the courage and the commitment to do everything in our power to share
it with others by our way of life and the values we profess, talking about it
freely and telling the story everywhere.
Updated by Br. Dick
Burke 5/2/2012.