Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Readings for Thursday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time

Commentary:

Reading 1 Heb 3:7-14

We hear in today’s selection from the letter to the Hebrews a paraphrase of Psalm 95. This part of the psalm is concerned with the loss of faith by the Hebrews as Moses led them out of Egypt. The focus is the main one of Hebrews, which is to implore the reader not to lose the exuberance for the faith or to weary of the journey.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

We hear the very familiar strains of the Invitatory Psalm today. Psalm 95 is the scripture a majority of the ordained and religious use to open the prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours each morning. Today it supports the reading from Hebrews above as we are enjoined not to rebel against God because the journey is so difficult.

Gospel Mk 1:40-45

Jesus cures the leper in the passage from the Gospel of St. Mark we are given today. This healing occurs after the leper demonstrates faith that Jesus can accomplish this feat even though there are only two times in Old Testament scripture when this was done (Numbers 12:10-15; 2 Kings 5:1-14). As usual, Jesus asks the leper not to tell anyone how this was accomplished but to show the Hebrew priest he was clean and be allowed to rejoin the community. He did not do this and the Lord is mobbed by those seeking God’s favor.

Homily:

“…people kept coming to him from everywhere.”

We heard from Mark yesterday how when the disciples found Jesus they told him how everyone was looking for him. Today, they have found him and are coming to him from everywhere. And why? Jesus had just accomplished something remarkable, he had cured a leper. In that day and time, leprosy was considered one of the ultimate signs of God’s punishment. His displeasure with the afflicted was so great that they were outcast – they could not live with the community and if anyone even approached them they were to call out; “Unclean!, unclean.”

By removing this stain from the leper, Jesus returned him to God’s grace. Indeed, Jesus was seen by these people as The Way back to God. In this act of healing Jesus revealed himself as the one who could forgive the sins of the many.

It is somewhat ironic that this Gospel passage is coupled with the Hebrews reading that encourages us not to loose heart in our journey of faith. The author uses Psalm 95 as a plea. Again, perhaps ironically, this plea is made each morning to those who pursue the discipline of the Liturgy of the Hours as we use this same Psalm as our invitation to prayer.

In one short combination of scripture today we are given the reason for our journey of faith and encouragement not to falter because it is a difficult path to take.

- We are called to love one another, even the leper, and that is a difficult thing for us to do.
- We are called to be compassionate, perhaps to the undeserving, especially to the undeserving as the Lord was.
- We are asked to show other’s the way through our actions and through our words.

“…people kept coming to him from everywhere” , let us pray today that we continue steadfastly to be among them and never lose faith.

Amen

ALTRE