Thursday 1st. Week of Ordinary Time 

Mark 1:40-45 

The leper’s helplessness and total dependency on others broke his spirit, but it opened him to God. 

 
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”  

We may know someone who is enduring a long illness.  

The length and severity of their illness  
can condition them to a way of life  
that no longer seeks change or improvement.  

 
The disability of the illness becomes normal,  
even accepted by the person.  

How many people live in depression for years  
and never seek help?  

We may know someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one  
and they are no longer the person we once knew. 

 
The leper in today’s Gospel found faith and particular grace –  
his helplessness and total dependency on others  
broke his spirit but it opened him to God.  

 
The cry, “If you wish, you can cure me,”  
is so deep within the leper who is ready to beg on his knees.  

 
That grace and faith are in every broken spirit we know.  

Pray for Jesus to show his pity and mercy  
to such a person you may know.  

Your prayers and kindness may be the Light  
that shines in their darkened hearts.  

 
We can all be agents of God’s mercy.