Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary
Time
Lectionary: 308
Lectionary: 308
The Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel.
Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer,
while the Philistines camped at Aphek.
The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel.
After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines,
who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.
When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said,
"Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today
by the Philistines?
Let us fetch the ark of the LORD from Shiloh
that it may go into battle among us
and save us from the grasp of our enemies."
So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there
the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim.
The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God.
When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp,
all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded.
The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked,
"What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?"
On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
the Philistines were frightened.
They said, "Gods have come to their camp."
They said also, "Woe to us! This has never happened before. Woe to us!
Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?
These are the gods that struck the Egyptians
with various plagues and with pestilence.
Take courage and be manly, Philistines;
otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews,
as they were your slaves.
So fight manfully!"
The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated;
every man fled to his own tent.
It was a disastrous defeat,
in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.
The ark of God was captured,
and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.
Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer,
while the Philistines camped at Aphek.
The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel.
After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines,
who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.
When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said,
"Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today
by the Philistines?
Let us fetch the ark of the LORD from Shiloh
that it may go into battle among us
and save us from the grasp of our enemies."
So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there
the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim.
The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God.
When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp,
all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded.
The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked,
"What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?"
On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
the Philistines were frightened.
They said, "Gods have come to their camp."
They said also, "Woe to us! This has never happened before. Woe to us!
Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?
These are the gods that struck the Egyptians
with various plagues and with pestilence.
Take courage and be manly, Philistines;
otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews,
as they were your slaves.
So fight manfully!"
The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated;
every man fled to his own tent.
It was a disastrous defeat,
in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.
The ark of God was captured,
and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25
R. (27b) Redeem
us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Yet now you have cast us off and put us in disgrace,
and you go not forth with our armies.
You have let us be driven back by our foes;
those who hated us plundered us at will.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
You made us the reproach of our neighbors,
the mockery and the scorn of those around us.
You made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Why do you hide your face,
forgetting our woe and our oppression?
For our souls are bowed down to the dust,
our bodies are pressed to the earth.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Yet now you have cast us off and put us in disgrace,
and you go not forth with our armies.
You have let us be driven back by our foes;
those who hated us plundered us at will.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
You made us the reproach of our neighbors,
the mockery and the scorn of those around us.
You made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock among the peoples.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
Why do you hide your face,
forgetting our woe and our oppression?
For our souls are bowed down to the dust,
our bodies are pressed to the earth.
R. Redeem us, Lord, because of your mercy.
AlleluiaSEE MT 4:23
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 1:40-45
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then 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.
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then 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.
Meditation: The Lord Jesus can make
me clean
Do you seek the Lord Jesus with expectant faith? No
one who sought Jesus out was refused his help. Even the untouchables and the
outcasts of Jewish society found help in him. Unlike the people of Jesus' time
who fled at the sight of a leper, Jesus touched the leper who approached him
and he made him whole and clean. Why was this so remarkable? Lepers were
outcasts of society. They were driven from their homes and communities and left
to fend for themselves. Their physical condition was terrible as they slowly
lost the use of their limbs and withered away. They were not only shunned but
regarded as "already dead" even by their relatives. The Jewish law
forbade anyone from touching or approaching a leper, lest ritual defilement
occur.
The Lord Jesus has power to touch our wounds and make
us whole
This leper did something quite remarkable. He approached Jesus confidently and humbly, expecting that Jesus could and would heal him. Normally a leper would be stoned or at least warded off if he tried to come near a rabbi. Jesus not only grants the man his request, but he demonstrates the personal love, compassion, and tenderness of God in his physical touch. The medical knowledge of his day would have regarded such contact as grave risk for incurring infection. Jesus met the man's misery with compassion and tender kindness. He communicated the love and mercy of God in a sign that spoke more eloquently than words. He touched the man and made him clean - not only physically but spiritually as well.
This leper did something quite remarkable. He approached Jesus confidently and humbly, expecting that Jesus could and would heal him. Normally a leper would be stoned or at least warded off if he tried to come near a rabbi. Jesus not only grants the man his request, but he demonstrates the personal love, compassion, and tenderness of God in his physical touch. The medical knowledge of his day would have regarded such contact as grave risk for incurring infection. Jesus met the man's misery with compassion and tender kindness. He communicated the love and mercy of God in a sign that spoke more eloquently than words. He touched the man and made him clean - not only physically but spiritually as well.
We, too, can bring Christ's healing power and merciful
love to others
How do you approach those who are difficult to love, or who are shunned by others because they are deformed or have some defect? Do you show them kindness and offer them mercy and help as Jesus did? The Lord is always ready to show us his mercy and to free us from whatever makes us unclean, unapproachable, or unloving towards others.
How do you approach those who are difficult to love, or who are shunned by others because they are deformed or have some defect? Do you show them kindness and offer them mercy and help as Jesus did? The Lord is always ready to show us his mercy and to free us from whatever makes us unclean, unapproachable, or unloving towards others.
Lord Jesus, inflame my heart with your love and make
me clean and whole in body, mind, and spirit. May I never doubt your love nor
cease to tell others of your mercy and compassion."
Daily Quote from the early church fathers: Why did Jesus touch the leper, by Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD)
"And why did [Jesus] touch him, since the law
forbade the touching of a leper? He touched him to show that 'all things are
clean to the clean' (Titus 1:15). Because the filth that is in one person does
not adhere to others, nor does external uncleanness defile the clean of heart.
So he touches him in his untouchability, that he might instruct us in humility;
that he might teach us that we should despise no one, or abhor them, or regard
them as pitiable, because of some wound of their body or some blemish for which
they might be called to render an account... So, stretching forth his hand to
touch, the leprosy immediately departs. The hand of the Lord is found to have
touched not a leper, but a body made clean! Let us consider here, beloved, if
there be anyone here that has the taint of leprosy in his soul, or the
contamination of guilt in his heart? If he has, instantly adoring God, let him
say: 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.'" (excerpt from FRAGMENTS ON MATTHEW 2.2–3)
THURSDAY,
JANUARY 11, MARK 1:40-45
Weekday
(1 Samuel 4:1-11; Psalm 44)
Weekday
(1 Samuel 4:1-11; Psalm 44)
KEY VERSE: "Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter" (v 45).
TO KNOW: In Jesus' day, a person afflicted with leprosy was an outcast, forced to live apart from the community. One such leper humbly begged Jesus to heal him. Jesus was filled with compassion as it was always his will that his people be made whole. Even though contact with a leper would render a person ritually unclean, Jesus did not hesitate to touch the man and heal him. Jesus then sent the man to the priest who had the authority to pronounce him cured and ready to return to society (Lv 14:1-32). Jesus admonished the man not to speak of the healing lest it be misinterpreted as mere wonder-working ("the Messianic Secret" is characteristic of Mark's gospel). But the man could not contain his joy and began to publicize his healing to everyone he met. Because so many people kept coming to Jesus, it was impossible for him to enter a town. Now it was Jesus who was forced to live in the deserted places on the town’s outskirts.
TO LOVE: Do I show compassion to those who are afflicted by sickness and disease?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, heal me of all that separates me from God and my community
Thursday 11
January 2018
St Theodosius.
1 Samuel
4:1-11. Psalm 43(44):10-11, 14-15, 24-25. Mark 1:40-45.
Save us,
Lord, in your mercy—Psalm 43(44):10-11, 14-15, 24-25.
Cut off
from God and community.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes the
place of the leper as the one who is shunned and excluded. By touching the
leper, he is made ritually unclean and unable to enter the places where people
live. People are drawn to him nevertheless. The leper is an example of great
faith and trust in Jesus’ power and mercy.
Many commentators on the psalms
note that they cover the full range of human emotions.
Today’s psalm picks up on the
devastation and despair that the Israelites felt after they were defeated and
the Ark of the Covenant fell into the hands of the Philistines. They cry out to
God for help to restore them as a nation.
Let our prayer for today be words
of the leper (‘If you want to, you can cure me’), content in the knowledge that
the Lord’s answer will be ‘Of course I want to’.
LECTIO DIVINA: MARK 1,40-45
Lectio Divina:
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Ordinary
Time
1) Opening prayer
Father of love, hear our prayers.
Help us to know Your will
and to do it with courage and faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Help us to know Your will
and to do it with courage and faith.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - Mark 1:40-45
A leper came to him and kneeling down
begged him and said, "If you wish, you can make me clean." Moved with
pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, "I do
will it. Be made clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made
clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then 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.
3) Reflection
• Accepting and curing the leper, Jesus
reveals a new face of God. A leper came near Jesus. He was an excluded, impure
person. He should be far away. Anybody who touched him would also become
impure! But that leper had great courage. He transgresses the norms of religion
in order to be able to get near Jesus. He calls out: “If You want, You can heal
me. You need not touch me! It suffices that You want, and I will be healed!”
This phrase reveals two evils: a) the evil of leprosy which made him impure;
and b) the evil of solitude to which he was condemned by society and by
religion. It also reveals the great faith of the man in the power of Jesus.
Jesus is profoundly moved and cures both evils. In the first place, in order to
cure solitude, He touches the leper. It is as if He said: “For Me, you are not
an excluded one. I accept you as a brother!” And then He cures the leper
saying: “I want it! Be cured!” The leper, in order to enter into contact with
Jesus, had transgressed the norms of the Law. Jesus, in order to be able to
help that excluded person and therefore reveal a new face of God, transgresses
the norms of His religion and touches the leper. At that time, whoever touched
a leper became impure according to the religious authority and by the law of
that time.
• He integrated the excluded person into fraternal living together. Jesus not only cures, but also wants the cured person to be able to live with the others. He once again inserts the person in society to live with others. At that time, for a leper to be accepted again in the community, it was necessary to get a certificate from the priest that he had been cured. It is like today in some places. A sick person leaves the hospital with a document signed by the doctor of the department where he had been hospitalized. Jesus obliges the person to look for that document in such a way that he will be able to live normally with others. He obliges the authorities to recognize that this man has been cured.
• The leper announces the good that Jesus has done to him and Jesus becomes an excluded person. Jesus forbids the leper to speak about the cure. The Gospel of Mark tells us that this prohibition does not survive. The leper, walking away, began to spread the news to the point that Jesus could no longer publicly enter into a city, but remained outside in a deserted place (Mk 1:45). Why? Because Jesus had touched the leper. Because of this, according to the opinion of the religion of that time, He himself was now impure and should live far away from all others. He could no longer enter the city. Mark says that people did not care about these official norms, in fact, people came to Him from everywhere (Mk 1:45).
• Summarizing. In the year 70, when Mark wrote, as well as today, the time in which we live, it was and is important to have models of how to live and how to proclaim the Good News of God. In verses 16 to 45 of the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark describes the mission of the community and presents eight criteria in order that the communities of his time could evaluate their mission. The following is the outline:
• He integrated the excluded person into fraternal living together. Jesus not only cures, but also wants the cured person to be able to live with the others. He once again inserts the person in society to live with others. At that time, for a leper to be accepted again in the community, it was necessary to get a certificate from the priest that he had been cured. It is like today in some places. A sick person leaves the hospital with a document signed by the doctor of the department where he had been hospitalized. Jesus obliges the person to look for that document in such a way that he will be able to live normally with others. He obliges the authorities to recognize that this man has been cured.
• The leper announces the good that Jesus has done to him and Jesus becomes an excluded person. Jesus forbids the leper to speak about the cure. The Gospel of Mark tells us that this prohibition does not survive. The leper, walking away, began to spread the news to the point that Jesus could no longer publicly enter into a city, but remained outside in a deserted place (Mk 1:45). Why? Because Jesus had touched the leper. Because of this, according to the opinion of the religion of that time, He himself was now impure and should live far away from all others. He could no longer enter the city. Mark says that people did not care about these official norms, in fact, people came to Him from everywhere (Mk 1:45).
• Summarizing. In the year 70, when Mark wrote, as well as today, the time in which we live, it was and is important to have models of how to live and how to proclaim the Good News of God. In verses 16 to 45 of the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark describes the mission of the community and presents eight criteria in order that the communities of his time could evaluate their mission. The following is the outline:
Text Activity of
Jesus Objective of the mission
Mark 1:16-20
Jesus calls His first disciples
To form the community
Mark 1:21-22
The people were admired at His teaching
To create a critical conscience
Mark 1:23-28
Jesus expels a devil
To overcome the force of evil
Mark 1:29-31
He cures Peter’s mother-in-law
To give life back so as to serve
Mark 1:32-34
He cures the sick and the possessed
To accept the marginalized
Mark 1:35
Jesus rises early to pray
To remain united with the Father
Mark 1:36-39
Jesus continues the announcement
Not to stop at the results
Mark 1:40-45
He cures a leper
To integrate anew the excluded
Mark 1:16-20
Jesus calls His first disciples
To form the community
Mark 1:21-22
The people were admired at His teaching
To create a critical conscience
Mark 1:23-28
Jesus expels a devil
To overcome the force of evil
Mark 1:29-31
He cures Peter’s mother-in-law
To give life back so as to serve
Mark 1:32-34
He cures the sick and the possessed
To accept the marginalized
Mark 1:35
Jesus rises early to pray
To remain united with the Father
Mark 1:36-39
Jesus continues the announcement
Not to stop at the results
Mark 1:40-45
He cures a leper
To integrate anew the excluded
4) Personal questions
• To proclaim the Good News means to
give witness to the experience of Jesus that one has. What does the leper
announce? He tells others the good that Jesus has done to him. This witness
leads others to accept the Good News of God which Jesus brings to us. What is
the witness that you give?
• To take the Good News to the people, it is not necessary to be afraid of transgressing the religious norms which are contrary to God’s plan and which make communication, dialogue, and the living out of love difficult, even if this causes difficulty for the people as it caused difficulty for Jesus. Do I have this courage?
• To take the Good News to the people, it is not necessary to be afraid of transgressing the religious norms which are contrary to God’s plan and which make communication, dialogue, and the living out of love difficult, even if this causes difficulty for the people as it caused difficulty for Jesus. Do I have this courage?
5) Concluding prayer
Come, let us bow low and do
reverence;
kneel before Yahweh who made us!
For He is our God,
and we the people of His sheepfold,
the flock of His hand. (Ps 95:6-7)
kneel before Yahweh who made us!
For He is our God,
and we the people of His sheepfold,
the flock of His hand. (Ps 95:6-7)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét