The daily Word of God
Thursday, January 16th, 2025
Thursday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:40-45 "People kept coming to him from everywhere"
First Reading: Hebrews 3:7-14
The Holy Spirit says:
Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
“Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
in the day of testing in the desert,
where your ancestors tested and tried me
and saw my works for forty years.
Because of this I was provoked with that generation
and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart,
and they do not know my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ
if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11
R./ If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the Lord who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R/ If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R/ If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Forty years I was wearied of that generation;
I said: “This people’s heart goes astray,
they do not know my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my anger:
“They shall never enter my rest.”
R/ If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Gospel Introduction: The leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
There is the story of the father whose child had been born badly deformed. He was disheartened and could not love it. But one day he said: “If I can only kiss and touch it, then I can completely accept it.” And that is what he did. Jesus did not only heal the leper but he touched him, showing that he loved and accepted the man completely.
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.
I’ve always been struck by the words the leper uses when he encounters Jesus: “Lord, if you want, you can make me clean.” The first explanation that comes to mind—one that likely occurs to many—is that the leper doesn’t have much faith in Jesus. That lack of faith would explain his hesitant request. But I feel like that’s not the explanation—or at least, we could offer another perspective on the leper’s words.
Perhaps the leper had no doubt that there was something extraordinary about Jesus. Maybe he hadn’t yet recognized Him as the Son of God, as Christians would come to do years after Jesus’ death. But it’s clear he saw in Jesus someone extraordinary, someone with powers far beyond the ordinary. At the same time, the leper might have already encountered many powerful figures in his life—figures whose power didn’t necessarily translate into compassion for the sick, the marginalized, or those in need. We all know that, far too often, the powerful care mostly about themselves and their own comfort, showing little concern for the needs of others.
Maybe the leper was testing Jesus to see if He was like those other powerful figures he had met, or if He was different—someone who truly cared about people and their suffering, rather than focusing on His own interests. That’s why he said, “if you want.”
His surprise must have been immense when Jesus did want. In Jesus, he discovered a powerful man who looked beyond Himself to care for others—the poor, the needy. He saw that Jesus didn’t look at him with indifference, nor did He heal him to show off His powers or gain recognition. Jesus simply had compassion. And that alone was extraordinary. Jesus wasn’t powerful in the same way as the other powerful people the leper had encountered. Jesus used His power to serve the poor and the suffering.
That’s why the leper reacted the way he did—telling everyone about Jesus. Because Jesus was different. For the first time, the poor had reason to rejoice!
Fernando Torres, cmf
Opening Prayer
God, our Father,
you let your Son Jesus Christ,
share the lot of outcasts
and bear the sufferings of all.
Let us become like him,
so that among us no one stays an outcast,
no sin remains unforgivable,
no misery is a cause for rejection.
Make us with your Son,
people who lift up the despised
with words of welcome
and deeds of encouragement.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
General Intercessions
– With all those who seek pardon and reconciliation, we cry out to you, Lord. With all who have found forgiveness, we praise you Lord:
– With all who have found forgiveness, we praise you Lord:
– With all who wail day and night in their loneliness and misery, we cry out to you Lord. With all those who have found friends to help, we praise you Lord:
– With all who hide their suffering, we cry to you, Lord. With all who share with others and uplift them, we praise you, Lord:
Prayer over the Gifts
Merciful Father,
with bread and wine we remember
how you raised us up
above our guilt and fears and our isolation.
Dispose us to share with all
your joy, your acceptance, and affection
on account of him who shared our poverty
and made himself weak and humble with us,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Loving, merciful Father,
at the table of your Son, we have learned
to be present to one another
as he has been present among us here
with a love that is discreet and reviving
like a breath of fresh air.
On account of him, who has taken away
the hardness of our hearts,
dispose us to share our riches and our poverty,
to receive one another and from each other
and to touch one another with our love.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
How very happy our community would be if we could fully accept one another just as we are, without condemning, without judging or begrudging, without looking down on anyone, without trying to create one another into our own image and likeness. Let us build up one another with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
