Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 8: 1-4
June 30, 2023 | Friday

Today’s Gospel

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large Crowds followed him. Then a leper came forward. HecKnelt before him and said, “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to, be clean again.” At that very moment, the man was cleansed from his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone; but go to the priest, have yourself declared clean, and offer the gift that Moses commanded as evidence for them.”

A person’s hygiene and posture may serve as an expression that there is a family, household, or community that looks after his welfare and dignity. The uncleanliness of the leper in today’s Gospel does not only convey the absence of health and wellness in him but also his separation from the family and community that he ought to belong. Jesus Christ understands the loneliness that comes from such a situation. Thus, He instructed the healed leper to go to the priest for him to be properly declared as cleaned and be re-admitted to the community. Indeed, God does not wish people to live in isolation. The fact that He established His covenant not only with Abraham but also with all who are related to Him either by blood or by faith, attests that He wishes to embrace all peoples as one unified family. /Vulnerasti, 2023