12th Week in Ordinary Time
A compassionate heart
Introduction
Punishment comes to the Jewish people for their persistent infidelity. Jerusalem is destroyed with its temple and the people sent into exile.
Gospel. Immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew gives us a series of miracles of Jesus, the first of which is narrated in today’s Gospel, the cure of the leper. Jesus had spoken with power, now he acts with power; Jesus had spoken of the law of love, now he himself puts it into practice in an act of compassionate help to an outcast. Note that in the Bible, leprosy is closely linked to sin and like a physical sign of sin. Let us honor our Lord in his compassion and forgiveness.
Opening Prayer
Lord God, our Father,
your Son, Jesus Christ, revealed to us
your compassionate, healing love.
Let his presence here in our midst
fill us with his power of sharing
in the miseries of our neighbor.
Let our words be like balm
on open wounds in their hearts
and let our deeds bring healing
to all those around us.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Reading 1: 2 Kings 25:1-12
In the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign,
on the tenth day of the month,
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his whole army
advanced against Jerusalem, encamped around it,
and built siege walls on every side.
The siege of the city continued until the eleventh year of Zedekiah.
On the ninth day of the fourth month,
when famine had gripped the city,
and the people had no more bread,
the city walls were breached.
Then the king and all the soldiers left the city by night
through the gate between the two walls
that was near the king’s garden.
Since the Chaldeans had the city surrounded,
they went in the direction of the Arabah.
But the Chaldean army pursued the king
and overtook him in the desert near Jericho,
abandoned by his whole army.
The king was therefore arrested and brought to Riblah
to the king of Babylon, who pronounced sentence on him.
He had Zedekiah’s sons slain before his eyes.
Then he blinded Zedekiah, bound him with fetters,
and had him brought to Babylon.On the seventh day of the fifth month
(this was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon),
Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard,
came to Jerusalem as the representative
of the king of Babylon.
He burned the house of the Lord,
the palace of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem;
every large building was destroyed by fire.
Then the Chaldean troops who were with the captain of the guard
tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem.
Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,
led into exile the last of the people remaining in the city,
and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon,
and the last of the artisans.
But some of the country’s poor, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard,
left behind as vinedressers and farmers.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
Though there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the Lord
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
Alleluia
Christ took away our infirmitiesa
and bore our diseases.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: Matthew 8:1-4
And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I will do it. Be made clean.”
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,
but go show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
Intercessions
– With all who seek pardon and reconciliation, we cry out to you Lord, and with all who have found and grant forgiveness, we thank you Lord:
– With all who are rejected by their communities, we cry out to you Lord, and with all who accept people and restore their dignity, we praise you Lord:
– With all who hide their suffering, we cry out to you Lord, and with all who share with others and uplift them, we praise you Lord:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
you are good to us.
With these gifts of bread and wine
we offer you the sacrifice of Jesus
that brought us your forgiveness.
Reconcile us with you and each other
and keep cleansing us from the leprosy
of pride and hard-heartedness
that mar in us the face
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
your Son Jesus, has spoken among us
his words and deeds of healing.
He has answered our plea
for forgiveness and fresh hope in life
with the gift of himself.
Make us too, capable
of stretching out our hands
to those in sorrows and pain
and of touching them with our love.
And may our compassionate help
reach out most of all
to the outcasts of this cold world.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Lord.
Blessing
When we have sinned, we too, should go to God and tell him: Lord, you can clean me, and he is very willing to do so, for he loves us and heals us repeatedly. May we also bring healing to the people around us, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
28 June 2024
Matthew 8:1-4
Christian closeness
Leprosy was regarded as a life sentence, and healing a leper was as challenging as resurrecting the dead – a near impossibility. When Jesus came down from the mountain, a great crowd followed him. However, those with illnesses could not follow him because they were ‘unclean’, and their law forbade them from public appearances.
In today’s scripture, the individual affected by leprosy faced a challenging choice when contemplating approaching Jesus, since being recognized could result in stoning. Jesus also grappled with a difficult decision. Even the act of touching a leper would have rendered him unclean in the eyes of his adversaries, potentially leading to condemnation. Nevertheless, Jesus did not hesitate to draw near. He boldly reached out his hand and healed him.
Many people continue to keep themselves at a distance from Jesus because their lack of courage displayed by the leper. However, Jesus extends his hand to all, without fear of becoming impure himself.
A beautiful reflection on this Gospel passage was given by Pope Francis in 2015. He said, “Closeness is such an important word: you can’t build a community without closeness; you can’t make peace without closeness; you can’t do good without drawing near. Jesus could have said to him: “Be healed!” But instead, He drew close and touched him. What’s more: at the moment Jesus touched the unclean man, he himself became unclean. And this is the mystery of Jesus: He takes upon himself our unclean-ness, our impurities”.
St Paul describes this well when he writes, “Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself”. Let us pray that we may not be afraid to draw close to the needy, who are visible or to those who have hidden wounds. This is the grace of drawing near.