From: Luke 5:12-16

The Cure of a Leper

[12] While he (Jesus) was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy;
and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and besought him, “Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean.” [13] And he stretched out his hand, and touched him,
saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. [14] And he
charged him to tell no one; but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make
an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.”
[15] But so much the more the report went abroad concerning him; and great
multitudes gathered to hear and to be healed of their infirmities. [16] But he with-
drew to the wilderness and prayed.

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Commentary:

12. The words of the leper are a model prayer. First, they show his faith. “He did
not say, ‘If you ask God for it...’, but ‘If you will”’ (Chrysostom, “Hom. on St Mat-
thew”, 25). He rounds this off by saying, “You can” — an open confession of
Christ’s omnipotence. The psalmist expressed this same faith: “Whatever the
Lord pleases he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and in the deep” (Ps
135:6). Along with this faith he shows confidence in God’s mercy. “God is merci-
ful; there is no need therefore to ask him; all we have to do is show him our need”
(St Thomas Aquinas, “Commentary on St Matthew”, 8, 1). And St John Chrysos-
tom concludes: “Prayer is perfect when it is joined to faith and confession; the
leper showed his faith and confessed his need out loud” (”Hom. on St Matthew”,
25).

“’Domine! — Lord — “si vis, potes me mundare” — if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean.’ What a beautiful prayer for you to say often, with the faith of the poor leper,
when there happens to you what God and you and I know! You will not have to
wait long to hear the Master’s reply: ‘”Volo, mundare!” I will: be thou made clean!”’
(St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 142).

13. Jesus listens to the leper’s petition and cures him of his disease. All of us
suffer from spiritual ailments and our Lord is waiting for us to approach him: “He
is our physician, and he heals our selfishness if we let his grace penetrate to the
depths of our soul. Jesus has taught us that the worst sickness is hypocrisy, the
pride that leads us to hide our own sins. We have to be totally sincere with him.
We have to tell the whole truth, and then we have to say, ‘Lord, if you will’ — and
you are always willing — ‘you can make me clean’ (Mt 8:2). You know my weak-
nesses; I feel these symptoms; I suffer these failings. We show him the wound,
with simplicity, and if the wound is festering, we show the pus too. Lord, you
have cured so many souls; help me to recognize you as the divine physician
when I have you in my heart or when I contemplate your presence in the taber-
nacle” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 93).

16. The Third Gospel frequently draws attention to Jesus going off, alone, to pray
(cf. 6:12; 9:18; 11:1). By doing this Jesus teaches us the need for personal pra-
yer in all the various situations in which we find ourselves.

“Forgive me if I insist, but it is very important to note carefully what the Mes-
siah did, because he came to show us the path that leads to the Father. With
our Lord we will discover how to give a supernatural dimension to all our actions,
even those that seem least important. We will learn to live every moment of our
lives with a lively awareness of eternity, and we will understand more deeply man’s
need for periods of intimate conversation with his God, so as to get to know him,
to invoke him, to praise him, to break out into acts of thanksgiving, to listen to
him or, quite simply, to be with him” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 239).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 John 4:19-5:4 ©

We are to love,

because God loved us first.

Anyone who says, ‘I love God’,

and hates his brother,

is a liar,

since a man who does not love the brother that he can see

cannot love God, whom he has never seen.

So this is the commandment that he has given us,

that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ

has been begotten by God;

and whoever loves the Father that begot him

loves the child whom he begets.

We can be sure that we love God’s children

if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us;

this is what loving God is –

keeping his commandments;

and his commandments are not difficult,

because anyone who has been begotten by God

has already overcome the world;

this is the victory over the world –

our faith.

Psalm

Psalm 71:1-2,14-15,17 ©

All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

O God, give your judgement to the king,

to a king’s son your justice,

that he may judge your people in justice

and your poor in right judgement.

All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

From oppression he will rescue their lives,

to him their blood is dear.

(Long may he live,

may the gold of Sheba be given him.)

They shall pray for him without ceasing

and bless him all the day.

All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

May his name be blessed for ever

and endure like the sun.

Every tribe shall be blessed in him,

all nations bless his name.

All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation

Lk7:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

A great prophet has appeared among us;

God has visited his people.

Alleluia!

Or	Lk4:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,

to proclaim liberty to captives.

Alleluia!

Or	Mt4:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

The people that lived in darkness

has seen a great light;

on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death

a light has dawned.

Alleluia!

Or	cf.Mt4:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the kingdom

and cured all kinds of diseases among the people.

Alleluia!

Or	cf.1Tim3:16

Alleluia, alleluia!

Glory to you, O Christ,

proclaimed to the pagans;

glory to you, O Christ,

believed in by the world.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.

He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,

for he has anointed me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,

to proclaim liberty to captives

and to the blind new sight,

to set the downtrodden free,

to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.