6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time are:

1. Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46
2. Psalm 32: 1-2, 5, 11
   
3. 1 Corinthians 10: 31-11:1
   
4. Mark 1: 40-45
   

• Outcast
  
• Calamity can often lead to loneliness.  Even if the stricken one receives visitors, those visitors do not share your circumstances, they cannot know what it is really like, they are other from you, separated by an invisible barrier of need.  Only the truly empathetic can cross that divide, and so identify with the one in need that they are really able to touch the stricken deeply.
• When has anyone ministered to you when you were stricken with some calamity, be it the loss of a loved one, your job, a relationship that dies ...?
• How did they reach out to you, help you really feel that they were, in some significant way, with you in that circumstance?
• How did that reaching out on their part change you?
• Do you think that it changed them?
• What does it take to be able to minister to someone else that way?
  

• Transparency
  
• It's easy to confine repentance and forgiveness to the confessional.  But I think that confession goes on frequently in a healthy relationship.  Forgiveness even more often.  By forgiving and accepting forgiveness, we have a unique opportunity to learn the heart of Jesus, and find mercy as we learn how to be merciful.  Giving forgiveness frees the wounded one.
  
• Have you ever gone to someone to tell them about a failure in your life?
• What prompted you to do that?
• How did they respond?
• Was the experience healing for you?
  

• The good of the many
  
• Doing something for the glory of God is not as easy as it sounds.  What is easy is self-deception.  Someone might put themselves last in all cases out of a false humility, or out of a poor self-image that needs healing.  Conversely, someone who has achieved a measure of fame during their lives, like Billy Graham, did so to God's glory.
• How would you define the Kingdom of God?
• What are you doing to help bring that kingdom to earth here and now?
• How do you know that your actions support the coming of the Kingdom?
• How would you know when/if God calls you into something new/different?
  

• The human touch
  
• Jesus touched the leper before He cleansed him.  Which was more amazing, that Jesus, an observant Jew touched a man with leprosy, or that He was able to heal him instantly?
• Who are some people who have welcomed you in one way or another into the community of saints?
• How did they do that?
• How did that welcome transform you?
• Was that welcome a single event, or a process?
• How have you welcomed others?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Is there anyone in need in my life that I need to reach out to?
   
2. Where might I need to seek or give forgiveness?
   
3. How am I bringing about God's Kingdom today?
   
4. Where is God calling me to be more welcoming?

The Road Home

When I first went to the priest to be examined,

We both cried.

He found some bread for me, wrapped it in cloth,

And sent me on my way.

I left word with him to tell my family of my condition.

I could not endure the long, last goodbye.

I knew that I was near the leper colony by the smell

Carried on a wind of despair.

They all knew I would eventually look, 

And smell just like them.

No welcome to a new way of living death.

They were all past all that.

And I knew that if I stayed there long enough -

I would be beyond empathy as well.

But then Jesus touched me, defiled Himself -

Knowing my hideous state.

I rushed to the priest again to present myself cured.

We cried again.

And now, now I look at the road to home

That is not the same.

I can never see friends, family, village, my people

The same again.

I do not want to settle back into a comfortable place

Of indifference to others.

I hardly know where to start this next journey in my life

Toward what Jesus calls the Kingdom.

Maybe this Jesus can teach me how to touch the refuse of society

And in so doing complete my healing.

Shalom!