October 12, 2025
Twenty-eighth Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 144
Reading
I
Naaman went down
and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of Elisha, the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean of his leprosy.
Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before Elisha and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel.
Please accept a gift from your servant."
Elisha replied, "As the LORD lives whom I serve, I will not take it;"
and despite Naaman's urging, he still refused.
Naaman said: "If you will not accept,
please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth,
for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
to any other god except to the LORD."
Responsorial
Psalm
R. (cf. 2b) The
Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands:
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Reading
II
Beloved:
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David:
such is my gospel, for which I am suffering,
even to the point of chains, like a criminal.
But the word of God is not chained.
Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen,
so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
together with eternal glory.
This saying is trustworthy:
If we have died with him
we shall also live with him;
if we persevere
we shall also reign with him.
But if we deny him
he will deny us.
If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
In all circumstances, give thanks,
for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
As Jesus continued
his journey to Jerusalem,
he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed.
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine?
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?"
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101225.cfm
Commentary on 2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19
There are
a number of concurrent and related themes running through today’s readings. All
can be linked to our own personal experiences and, hopefully, we will see how
they operate in our lives in either a constricting or liberating way. These
themes may be enumerated as negativity, uncleanness, leprosy, ostracism,
imprisonment, as well as positivity, cleansing, healing, wholeness and thanks.
At this
stage in Luke’s Gospel we see Jesus making his way south to Jerusalem, to the
goal of his life’s mission. He has just reached the southern border of the
northern province of Galilee (where he came from) and Samaria, which was
sandwiched between Galilee on the north and Judea on the south.
Ten
lepers
As Jesus enters a village he is greeted by ten lepers who come out to meet him
(incidentally, they are all men—in Greek, andres):
They
stood at a distance from him…
As lepers,
they were compelled to cry out “unclean” and to ring a bell when they saw
people approaching. People in those days did not know much about the causes or
the nature of leprosy, but they did know that it was contagious. No cure was
known and it slowly resulted in disfigurement of the person. So those who were
believed to have leprosy had to keep a safe distance from all other people.
Hence the expression, “They treated him like a leper.” Very likely, some
unfortunate people who had non-contagious skin diseases were also lumped
together with them. They all were treated as outcasts, forced to live on the
fringes of society, an object of both fear and contempt.
Still some
distance from Jesus they called out in desperation—words we use in every Mass—Kyrie!
Eleison! That is:
Jesus,
Master! Have pity on us!
They had
no illusions about their helpless situation. Their only hope now was the
compassion of Jesus, their Master and Lord, who was the living embodiment of
the mercy and compassion of God—a mercy and compassion they had long ceased to
expect from their fellow-citizens.
Jesus
makes no fuss. He simply tells them:
Go and
show yourselves to the priests.
On their
way to carry out this instruction, they discovered that they were cleansed and
healed. Was this as a reward for their unquestioning and trusting response to
Jesus’ instructions? Was it a reward for their faith in him? And why did Jesus
tell them to go to the priests? Because it was not enough for them to be
healed—they would also have to be officially declared clean by the religious
authorities. Only then could they be fully integrated back into ‘normal’
society.
Only
one comes back
Finding himself cured, just one of the group went back “glorifying God in a
loud voice”, threw himself at the feet of Jesus and expressed his deepest
thanks for what had happened to him. And:
He was
a Samaritan.
Much of
the punch of the story is in those four words. As a Samaritan, he belonged to a
hated and despised group. In his case, he was an outcast twice over. Even the
disciples of Jesus were heard to speak violent words against Samaritans. And it
says a lot for the miserable lot of lepers that there could be Jews and
Samaritans together in one group. In their shared misery, other prejudices were
forgotten.
Yet, after
they were cured, it was not the members of God’s chosen people who came back to
express thanks to their Lord, but this outcast, a man who would be regarded as
an outcast in Jewish society, even if he did not have leprosy. It was a
foretaste of the future composition of the Christian communities.
Jesus’
reaction
Jesus highlights this fact by his own reaction:
Ten
were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this
foreigner returned to give thanks to God?
This
alien, this outsider and, by implication, this godless pagan (or at least,
dyed-in-the-wool heretic), a person who is presumed to be far from God, is the
one who is most deeply aware of God’s action in his life. We, too, in our time
must have met non-Christians who had a much better sense of God working in
their lives that some of us who carry the label ‘Catholic’.
Jesus
tells him:
Stand
up and go; your faith has saved you.
The man is
called to resurrection, to new life and to walk the Way of Jesus. His deep
insight into what he has experienced has been a saving experience for him.
There is far more here than physical healing. The whole person has been fully
restored in his relationships both with God and with his neighbours and the
community.
A
message for us
On reflection this passage can say so much to us in our own lives. Leprosy,
thank God, once such a terrifying disease, has largely disappeared from many
parts of the earth. Where it is still found, modern drugs are able to control
it and even to heal it. We also know now that, although it is contagious,
occasional contact with a leprous person is not dangerous.
However,
leprosies of different kinds are still endemic in every society, no matter how
sophisticated. In some parts of the world whole communities of people are
neglected, despised, exploited and alienated. In every society there are people
who are marginalised, sometimes by ‘benign neglect’, sometimes by outright
discrimination and oppression. Racism and ‘communalism’ (discrimination based
on religious identity) are rampant everywhere, sometimes very openly, sometimes
in more subtle, but equally hurtful ways.
And we
need to remember that prejudice and non-acceptance occurs in all directions,
not just from the majority downwards. Minorities can be equally prejudiced
against a surrounding majority. There can be divisions between one minority and
another. We can all be guilty of making lepers of others.
In our own
society, some racial groups are very aware of being seen as different and
inferior. Newly arrived immigrants can fall into such a category, even when
making a significant contribution by often doing the work that local people are
unwilling to do. In Hong Kong during the 1980s, it was ironic that many
Vietnamese ‘boat people’, who were not wanted by anybody, were housed in camps
which had formerly housed actual lepers. Even immigrant communities which have
been in a country for generations are sometimes not fully accepted by all.
The new
leprosy
It is worth reflecting on who the new ‘lepers’ are in society today. There are
many whose lifestyle and choices are different from that of our own. Does this
make them in some manner ‘lesser’ that us? When the time comes for the sign of
peace at Mass, would I shake that person’s hand? As well, are they are so
afraid of being totally rejected and condemned even by us—good, Mass-going
Catholics—that they don’t come to Mass?
Fear
and ignorance
But no matter who we are talking about, be they victims of disease, or people
of other races, religions or cultures, gender or sexual orientation, we need to
be aware of our attitudes and the values of Jesus portrayed in his interactions
with people of all kinds. We need to be aware of the role that both fear and
ignorance play in our attitudes and reactions to people who are ‘different’
from us. (Prejudice, from the Latin, pre-judicium, means coming to
a conclusion based on emotion and not on adequate data or facts leading to a
truly rational, objective judgement.)
As
followers of Jesus, we need not only to be aware, but to promote the dignity
and rights of people who are ‘different’ by reason of race, culture, religion,
life-style choice, or any physical or mental disability. Really, it is not
those who are different who need to ‘show themselves to the priests’, but we,
the victims of the disease of prejudice, who need to be made clean of our fear,
ignorance and intolerance. It is the propagators of intolerance rather than
their victims who are most in need of help and healing.
God’s
news cannot be chained
So, in the Second Reading from the Second Letter of Paul to Timothy, Paul
speaks of the hardships he has to bear for preaching the Good News:
…I am
suffering, even to the point of chains, like a criminal.
It is
striking how much resistance people, including ourselves, show to hearing the
Good News! But just as significantly, Paul says:
…the
word of God is not chained.
There are
still today in many parts of the world people languishing in jails, being
subjected to the most unspeakable torments and indignities for sharing the Good
News. But that does not stop the Good News from being propagated. Nothing and
no one can stop that. These people, with Paul, show their chains and their jail
sentences with pride and joy. Far more insidious are the chains of fear and
ignorance with which so many people are tied down.
Who are
the outsiders?
Today we need to ask ourselves individually and as a family or community: Whom
do we openly or silently marginalise as ‘outsiders’, as ‘not one of us’, people
we would keep our children away from—people we treat, in effect, as lepers.
Yes, we
all need, with the Samaritan, to be cleansed, to be healed, to be made whole of
all the toxic substances in our system which distort our relationships and the
way we see those around us. We need to see that for God, there are absolutely
no lepers, no outsiders. All are family, all have the same Father, all are his
children, all are brothers and sisters to each other. We all need to be given
by each other the same love that God gives to us.
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Sunday,
October 12, 2025
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary
Opening Prayer
Lord, while you are still crossing our land, today you have
stopped here and have entered in my village, into my house, in my life. You
have not been afraid, you have not disdained the profound illness of my sin;
rather, you have even loved me more. Oh Master, I stop at a distance, together
with my brothers and sisters who are walking together with me in this world. I
raise my voice and I call you; I show you the wound of my soul. I beg you, heal
me with the good ointment of your Holy Spirit, give me the true medicine of
your Word; there is nothing else which can cure me, but only You, who are Love…
Gospel – Luke 17: 11-19
•
Text:
11 Now it happened that on the way to Jerusalem he was
travelling in the borderlands of Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered one of
the villages, ten men suffering from a virulent skin-disease came to meet him.
They stood some way off 13 and called to him, 'Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.'
14 When he saw them he said, 'Go and show yourselves to the priests.' Now as
they were going away they were cleansed. 15 Finding himself cured, one of them
turned back praising God at the top of his voice 16 and threw himself prostrate
at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. 17 This led
Jesus to say, 'Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? 18
It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this
foreigner.' 19
And he said to the man, 'Stand up and go on your way. Your
faith has saved you.'
•
The
Context
This passage places us within the third stage of the road
which Jesus is following toward Jerusalem; by now the goal is close at hand and
the Master calls his disciples even with greater intensity, that is, us, to
follow him to the holy city, in the mystery of salvation, of love. The passage
is fulfilled only through faith, nourished by an intense, unceasing, insistent,
trusting prayer; we see this when we go over the chapters which precede and
follow this account (17: 6; 17: 19; 18: 7-8; 42). These words invite us to
identify ourselves with the lepers, who become children (cf. Lk 18: 15-17) and
with the rich man who is converted and accepts salvation in his home (Lk 18: 18
ff); if we truly accept them and guard them in such a way as to put them into
practice, we will finally be able also to arrive to Jericho (19: 1) and from
there to begin to go up with Jesus (19: 28), up to the joyful embrace with the
Father.
•
The
Structure:
•
v. 11: Jesus is travelling and crossed Samaria
and Galilee; little by little, he is getting close to Jerusalem, there is
nothing which He does not visit, does not touch with his look of love and of
mercy.
•
vv. 12 – 14a: Jesus enters one of the villages,
which does not have a name, because it is the place, it is the life of all and
here he encounters the ten lepers, sick men, already eaten up by death,
excluded and at a distance, marginalized and despised. Immediately He accepts
their prayer, which is a cry coming from the heart and invites them to enter
into Jerusalem and no longer to be at a distance, but to join the Heart of the
Holy City, the temple, the priests. He invites them to go back to the Father’s
house.
•
v. 14b: The lepers had just begun the holy trip
to Jerusalem, and they were healed, they become new men.
•
vv. 15-16: But only one of them turned back to
thank Jesus: it seems that we can almost see him running and jumping with joy.
He praises the Lord in a loud voice, and throws himself prostrate in adoration
and make Eucharist.
•
vv. 17-19: Jesus sees that of ten, only one turns
back, a Samaritan, one who does not belong to the chosen People: salvation, in
fact, is for all, also for those who are far away, the strangers. No one is
excluded from the love of the Father, who saves thanks to faith.
Meditate on the Word
•
I enter into silence:
This invitation is already clear to my heart: The Love of
the Father is waiting for me, like that only Samaritan who turned back, full of
joy and of gratitude. The Eucharist of my healing is ready; the room in the
upper room is already adorned, the table is set, the calf has been killed, the
wine has been poured… my place is already prepared. I reread attentively the
passage, slowly, stopping on the words, on the verbs; I look at the movement of
the lepers, I repeat them, make them my own, I also move, toward the encounter
with the Lord Jesus. And I allow myself to be guided by Him, I listen to His
voice, to His command. I also go toward Jerusalem, toward the temple, which is
my heart and I in making this holy trip I think over all the love that the
Father has had for me. I allow myself to be wrapped up by his embrace, I feel
the healing of my soul… And because of this, full of joy, I rise, turn back,
run toward the source of true happiness which is the Lord. I prepare myself to
thank Him, to sing to Him the new canticle of my love for Him. What will I give
to the Lord for all He has given me?…
•
I consider more deeply some terms:
During the travelling: Using his beautiful Greek, Luke
tells us that Jesus is continuing his way toward Jerusalem and uses a very
beautiful and intense verb, even if very common and very much used. In this
pericope or passage alone, it appears three times:
•
v. 11: in the travelling
•
v. 14: go
•
v. 19. going
It is a verb of very strong movement, which fully expresses
all the dynamic proper of the travelling; it can be translated with all these
different nuances or tones: I go, I go to, I leave, I go from one part to the
other, I go through, I follow. And even more, within it has the meaning of
crossing over, of wading, of going beyond, overcoming the obstacles. And Jesus,
the great traveler, the tireless pilgrim: He was the first one to leave His
dwelling in the bosom of the Father, and descended down to us, fulfilling the
eternal exodus of our salvation and liberation. He knows every path, every
route of human experience; no part of the road remains hidden or impassable for
Him. This is why He can invite us also to walk, to move ourselves, to cross, to
place ourselves in a continuous situation of exodus. So that finally, we can
also come back, together to Him, and in this way go to the Father.
•
Entering one of the villages: Jesus passes by,
crosses, walks through, moves and reaches us; sometimes, then, He decides to
enter, to stop for a longer time. As it happens in the account. Luke stops on
some details and writes that Jesus entered a village. To enter, in the Biblical
sense, is to penetrate, it is the entrance into the depth, which implies
sharing and participation. Once more, we find ourselves before a very common
and very much used verb; in the Gospel of Luke alone it appears very many times
and indicates clearly the intention of Jesus to get close to us, to become a
friend and to show his love. He does not despise or spurn any entrance, any
communion. He enters the house of Simon the leper (4: 38), goes into the house
of the Pharisee (7: 36 and 11: 37), then in the house of the president of the
Synagogue (8: 51) and of Zacchaeus the Publican (19: 7). He continually enters
into the history of man and participates, eats together, suffers, weeps and
rejoices, sharing everything. As He himself says, it is sufficient to open the
door to let Him in (Ap 3: 20), for him to remain (Lk 24: 29)
•
Ten Lepers: I ask myself what this human
condition really means, this sickness which is called leprosy. I begin with the
text itself of Scripture which describes the statute of the leper in Israel. It
says: “Anyone with a contagious skin disease will wear torn clothing and
disordered hair; and will cover the upper lip and shout: ‘Unclean, unclean! As
long as the disease lasts, such a person will be unclean and, being unclean,
will live alone and live outside the camp” (Lev 13: 45-46). Therefore, I
understand that the leper is a person struck, wounded, beaten: something has
struck him with violence, with force and has left in him a sign of pain, a
wound. He is a person in mourning, in great pain, as it is shown by his torn
clothing and disordered hair; he is one who has to cover his mouth, because he
has no right to speak, neither almost to breathe in the midst of others: he is
like a dead person. He is one who cannot worship God, he cannot enter into the
Temple, nor touch the holy things. He is a person profoundly wounded, a
marginalized person, excluded, one left aside, in solitude. Because of all
this, the ten lepers who go to meet Jesus, stop at a distance and speak to him
from far, shouting out their pain, their despair.
•
Jesus, the Master: This exclamation, this prayer
of the lepers is beautiful. Above all, they call the Lord by name, as it is
done with friends. It seems that they have known one another for some time,
that they know about one another, that they have met before at the level of the
heart. These lepers have already been admitted into the banquet of Jesus’
intimacy, to the wedding feast of salvation. After them, only the blind man of
Jericho (Lk 18: 38) and the thief on the Cross (Lk 23: 42) will repeat this
invocation with the same familiarity, the same love: Jesus! Only the one who
recognizes himself to be sick, in need, poor, evil-doer, becomes favorite of
God. Then they call Him ‘Master,’ using a term which means more properly ‘the
one who is on high’ and which Peter also used, when on the boat, he was called
by Jesus to follow Him (Lk 5: 8) and he recognizes himself a sinner. And here
we find ourselves in the very heart of truth, here the mystery of leprosy is
revealed, as a sickness of the soul: that is sin, it is to live far away from
God, the lack of friendship, of communion with Him. This dries up our soul and
makes it die little by little.
•
He turned back: It is not a simple physical
movement, a change of direction and of walking, but rather a true interior,
profound upheaval or revolution. ‘To turn back’ is the verb of conversion, of
going back to God. It is to change something into something else (Ap 11: 6); it
is returning home (Lk 1: 56; 2: 43), after having gone away, like the prodigal
son did, lost in sin. This is what this leper does: he changes his sickness
into a blessing, his being a stranger, a foreigner, being far away from God
into friendship, into a relationship of intimacy, like between father and son.
He changes, because he allows himself to be changed by Jesus himself, he allows
himself to be reached by His love.
•
To thank him: This verb is beautiful, in all
languages, but in a particular way in Greek, because it bears within the meaning
of Eucharist. Yes, it is exactly like that: the leper ‘does Eucharist’! He sits
at the table of mercy, where Jesus allowed himself to be hurt, wounded even
before him; where he became the cursed one, the excluded, the one thrown out of
the camp in order to gather us all together in His Heart. He receives the bread
and the wine of love gratuitously, of salvation, of forgiveness, of the new
life; finally, he can once again enter into the temple and participate in the
Liturgy, in the worship. Finally, he can pray, getting close to God with full
trust. He no longer wears torn clothing, but the feast dress, the wedding
dress; now he wears sandals on his feet, is shod and wears a ring on his
finger. He no longer has to cover his mouth, but from now he can sing and
praise God, he can smile and speak openly; he can get close to Jesus and kiss
Him, like a friend does with a friend. The feast is complete, the joy
overflowing.
•
Rise and go!: This is Jesus’ invitation, the
invitation of the Lord. Rise, that is, ‘Resurrect’ come back to life! It is the
new life after death, the day after the night. For Saul also, on the road to
Damascus, this same invitation was heard, this commandment of love: “Rise!”
(Acts 22: 10, 16) and he was born anew, from the womb of the Holy Spirit; he
recovered his sight and could see once again, he began to eat, he received
Baptism and a new name. His leprosy had disappeared.
•
Your faith has saved you: I reread this
expression of Jesus, I listen to it in his dialogues with the persons whom He
meets, with the sinner woman, the woman with the hemorrhage, the blind man…
•
Jesus, turning around, saw her and said,
“Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved you.” And from that moment the
woman was saved (Mt 9: 22; Lk 8:
48).
•
And Jesus said: “Go, your faith has saved you”
and immediately he regained his sight and he followed him along the road (Mk
10: 52).
•
He said to the woman: “Your faith has saved you,
go in peace” (Lk 7: 50).
•
And Jesus said to him: “Receive your sight. Your
faith has saved you” (Lk 18: 42). Now I pray together with the apostles and I
also say: “Lord, increase my faith!” (cf. Lk 17: 6); “Help my lack of faith!”
(Mk 9: 24).
I Pray with the Word
•
Confronting with life:
Lord, I have gathered
the good honey of your Words from the divine Scripture; You have given me
light, you have nourished my heart, you have shown me the truth. I know that in
the number of those lepers, of those sick persons, I am also there and I know that
you are waiting for me, so that I come back, full of joy, to make the Eucharist
with You, in your merciful love. I also ask you for the light of your Spirit in
order to be able to see well, to know and to allow You to change me. Behold,
Lord, I open my heart, my life, before you… look at me, question me, heal me.
•
Some questions:
•
If at this moment, Jesus, passing by and
crossing my life, would stop to enter into my village, would I be ready to
welcome, to accept Him? Would I be happy to let him come in? Would I invite
Him, would I insist, like the disciples of Emmaus? Behold, He is at the door
and knocks… Will I get up to open the door to my Beloved? (Cant 5: 5)
•
How is my relationship with Him? Am I able to
call Him by name, as the lepers have done, even if from a distance, but with
all the strength of their faith? Does the invocation of the name of Jesus
always springs from my heart, from my lips? When I am in danger, in suffering,
weeping, which exclamation comes spontaneously from me? Could I not try and be
more attentive to this aspect, which seems to be secondary, worth little, but
which, instead reveals a very strong and profound reality? Why do I not begin
to repeat the name of Jesus in my heart, even if only with my lips, like a
prayer, or like a hymn? This could be my companion while I go to work, while I
walk, while I do this or that…
•
Do I have the courage to sincerely present my
evil, my sin, which is the true sickness? Jesus invites the ten lepers to go to
the priests, according to the Hebrew law, but also for me, today, it is
important, indispensable to live this passage: to tell myself, to bring out to
light what hurts me inside and prevents me from being serene, happy, in peace.
If it is not before the priest, at least it is necessary that I place myself
before the Lord, face to face with Him, without any masks, without hiding
anything and to tell him all the truth about me. It is only in this way that it
will be possible to really heal.
•
The salvation of the Lord is for all; He loves
all with an immense love. But few are those who open themselves to accept His
presence in their life. One on ten. On which side do I place myself? Am I able
to recognize all the good that the Lord has done to me in my life? Or do I
continue only to complain, to always expect something more, to reproach and
accuse, to protest, to threaten? Do I really know how to say thank you,
sincerely, with gratitude, convinced that I have received everything, that the
Lord always gives me a surplus? It would really be very nice to take some time
to thank the Lord for all the benefits which He has showered in my life, since
I can remember up until now. I think that I would never be able to finish,
because something else would always come to my mind, Then, the only thing I can
do is like the leper, the only one among the ten: to turn back, to run up to
the Lord and to throw myself at His feet, and praise Him in a loud voice. I can
do it by singing a hymn, or only repeating my thanksgiving, or perhaps weeping
for joy.
•
And now I listen to Jesus’ invitation: “Rise and
set out on the road” After this experience I cannot remain without moving,
closing myself in my own world, in my peaceful beatitude and forget everything.
I must rise, go out, and set out on the road. If the Lord has blessed me, it is
in order that I may take His love to my brothers. The joy of the encounter with
Him and of having been healed in my soul will never be true, if it is not
shared and placed at the service of others. An instant is sufficient, to bring
to my mind so many friends, so many persons, more or less close to me, who need
some joy and hope. Then, why do I not start moving immediately? I can make a
phone call, send a message, write if even just a brief note, or perhaps I can
go and visit someone, keep him company and find the courage to announce the
beauty and the joy of having Jesus as my friend, as doctor, as Savior. Now is
the moment to do it.
I Pray with a Psalm
I called out to you, Lord, and you healed me. How
blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt, whose spirit harbours no
deceit. I said not a word, but my bones wasted away from groaning all the day;
I made my sin known to you,
did not conceal my guilt. I said,
'I shall confess my offence to Yahweh.' And you, for your
part,
took away my guilt, forgave my
sin. That is why each of your faithful ones prays to you in time of distress.
Even if great floods overflow,
they will never reach your faithful. You are a refuge for me,
you guard me in trouble, with
songs of deliverance you surround me.
I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go; I shall not
take my eyes off you. Rejoice in Yahweh, exult all you upright, shout for joy,
you honest of heart.
I Contemplate and I Praise
Lord, I have come to you from
solitude and isolation, with all the weight and the shame of my sin, of my
sickness. I have cried out, I have confessed, I have asked you for mercy, you,
who are Love. You have heard me even before I could finish my poor prayer; even
from far you have known me and listened to me. You know everything about me,
but you are not scandalized, you do not despise, you do not draw back. You have
told me only not to fear, not to hide myself. And it has been sufficient to
trust you, to open the heart and your salvation has already reached me. I have
already felt the balm of your presence. I have understood that you have healed
me. Then, Lord, I could not do any other thing than to turn back to you, to
tell you at least thank you, to weep with joy at your feet. I thought I did not
have anyone, not to be able to bear it, not to come out any more and, instead,
you have saved me, you have given me another possibility to begin anew.
Lord, thanks to you I am no longer a leper! I have thrown away
my torn clothing and I have put on my feast dress. I have broken the isolation
of shame, of harshness and I have begun to get out from myself, leaving behind
my prison. I have risen, I have resurrected. Today, with you, I begin to live
again.
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