January 14, 2021

Mk 1: 40-45

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Embracing humility 

Humility is the foundation of the spiritual life. The psalms proclaim God’s compassion for the humble, Mary is depicted as the perfect model of humility, and Jesus describes himself as “gentle and humble of heart.” Our prayer is efficacious when we humbly place our trust in God and not in ourselves. Where our limitations and weaknesses begin, there God is found, sustaining us with grace.

In today’s Gospel we read, “a leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’” This man, after suffering from leprosy and social exclusion, approaches Jesus with great humility. How blessed are we who have this same luxury: to cry out to Jesus who has humbly made himself present in the Eucharist.

Does our weakness lead us to despair? Do we struggle to embrace moments of humility? Do we see this struggle as a gift from God?

—Emmanuel Arenas, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic of the Midwest Province studying philosophy at Saint Louis University.

Prayer

How firmly we believe that in the eyes of God humility is an infinitely precious treasure and a jewel most pleasing to Him, since You, His divine Son, willed to be so humiliated to make us love this virtue, and to urge us to imitate You in the practice of it, and thus merit the grace to perform its works.

—St. John Eudes