ME
NU

OMELIE / Omelie EN

14 feb 2021
14/02/2021 – 6th Sunday in O. T.  - B

14/02/2021 – 6th Sunday in O. T.  - B

Reading 1 LEV 13,1-2.45-46 Psalm 31/32 Reading 2 1COR 10,31 - 11,1 Gospel  MK 1,40-45

 

Some days ago we have celebrated the world Day of the Sick. Today, listening to God’s word we are invited to reflect again on the sufferings caused by sickness in order to understand how the Father is suggesting us to behave. This Word is making us see the path the man need to follow to get closer to the Father's way to look at things and to act. The sick who might think they are leprous need to be authorised to get away from the community of the other men. To deprivation of health is added deprivation of affections, comforts and the defenses of society. So Moses has commanded, who was trying to defend the people from contagion: defence is possible only through control and segregation of those who are already suffering. This is the behaviour of they who know there is no other way to face unpleasantness, danger and suffering. Whoever have still to receive the revelation of the God-love do not have either the reasons or the ability to be alongside the sick: they feel compelled to distance them and keep them far away. Today’s world, the Godless world, which does not know the Son’s love, as a remedy against suffering would even suggest them or require them to ask for a death so called sweet, euthanasia.

But there it is, Jesus is moved with compassion in front of the leprous, even if he has been disobedient. Yes, he is disobedient because, according to the Law, he should distance himself, and instead he drives himself closer, sure he will not be rejected by Jesus. He already knows that Jesus is different from the other men. His certainty is a great act of faith, faith in the goodness and power of the Lord’s love, which is acting both through the touch of the hands and His word. In fact, Jesus' Word draws leprosy away, frees the sick from marginalisation, takes them out of their isolation and dispels the fear of being cursed by God. But the healing Word and the touch of His hands have caused Jesus to be marginalised Himsel. He will have to go through His quarantine, spend days outside, far from the villages.

The Lord does not complain, He deals with this cross, His cross, in order to save us from our imposed marginalisations on one another. The latter can come from sickness, but also from that contagion that is selfishness, our sin, the disobedience to the Father’s Word. What does Jesus do? He does not look at the sickness, but at the sick. He does not look at what makes men disgusting, but at the men, and in them He sees God’s image. Looking at men Jesus sees the Father’s plan, who wants communion among men, among all men. For Jesus, sickness is an invitation to care even more for those who need to be loved in order for them to get to know the Father and enjoy His love. So He extends His hand and He touches him, establishes a contact, so the Father’s love can reach the body and, through it, the suffering man’s soul, who is kept away from men and so he also feels far from God.

Today Jesus is still doing the same: He leaves with the Church the task of “touching” our sick body with its actions, with the hand, with its healing Word: these are the holy sacraments which, if only we want it, are reaching us in every situation and are transmitting us the Father’s love. With these actions, the Church offers everyone salvation, so we can in every moment be glory of God and keep immerse the world in His love. Jesus was obeyed by the apostles, and we learn from them, keeping up the chain of the actions which present men with the Father’s tenderness.

Today exactly Saint Paul is telling us that whichever our occupation might be, even the most common and simple, the simplest like drinking or eating, we need to do it for God’s glory. This means that every action of ours can be done in a way to show the Father’s love and the Son’s obedience. Every our action will become a chance for the Holy Spirit to spread in us. Let us drink and eat in order to maintain our strength for loving our brethren. The goal is not the pleasure of drinking or eating, but to be ready to serve the people we will meet. We will meet healthy and sick people alike, but everyone need to know and enjoy the Father’s love. We make ourselves Jesus’ servants in order to look with a smile and to touch with our hand the leprous of today, so people left alone, marginalised. Leprosy which isolates and marginslises is not only the sickness or the sin of those who are suffering, but above all the indifference or the selfishness of whom do not care for the brethren. Every thing we do, we will do it for God’s glory, so with the intention to make Him known and to draw Him closer to everyone.