Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 15, 2026
A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere
The request is so disarming and delivered with such humility: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” We can sense the shame and embarrassment of the leper, who has reached the point of having nothing to lose in begging for Jesus’ help.
There is a vulnerability in that plea that feels painfully familiar today. On LinkedIn, we see highly accomplished and successful individuals posting with the same humble honesty: “I was part of a reduction… I have been looking for over a year… If you know of any opportunities, please reach out…” It’s a public vulnerability we rarely saw before. People who spent years building a career, now feeling exposed, uncertain, and asking for help. Beneath all those posts is the same question the leper posed to Jesus, “If you wish, will someone help me?”
The messiness of life overwhelms us in moments like this. We struggle with the loss of our identity, financial challenges, and (albeit unjustified) personal shame. Jesus sees us in our most vulnerable spaces and wants to reach us there.
But while Jesus can answer our prayers, he also challenges us. He doesn’t just heal the leper, but he also provides direction by instructing him to show himself to the priest and provide proof of his cleansing. For us, perhaps this means God wants us to look beyond the request and seek out the guidance being offered and the broader plan for our lives. His mercy is immediate, but God’s plan is gradual. Do we trust Jesus enough to follow his guidance, and not just his healing?
Prayer
Jesus, Lord of love, you met the man who knelt before you with great compassion. You saw him truly, not as someone with a disease, but as a person who humbly sought to be made clean. Jesus, we too seek humility and the courage to ask you to make us clean. Let us receive your compassion from your outstretched hand. Grant to us, too, the healing that comes from your suffering, death, and resurrection. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Paul the Hermit was forced to flee to the desert to survive, but ended up living there an amazingly long time.
Paul was born around the year 230 in Egypt to an upper-class Christian family. He was well-educated, but left an orphan at the age of 15. The persecutions of Decius began a few years later, and members of his family planned a scheme to seize control of his property by reporting him as a Christian to the authorities. He fled both his family and the authorities by going into the desert and living in a cave.
The hermitic lifestyle suited Paul well and he spent the rest of his 113 year-long life surviving off fruit and water and wearing leaves. He spent most of his time in prayer, and a legend tells of a raven bringing him bread for sustenance.
St. Anthony the Abbot, who is traditionally credited with formalizing the monastic movement, visited Paul and became friends with him. (In fact, Anthony’s feast day lands in two days.) When he died, Anthony buried Paul in a cloak that was given to him by St. Athanasius, and it is said that two lions helped dig the grave. The two friends—Paul and Anthony—are depicted in murals in the Basilica on opposite-facing walls. St. Paul’s image includes the bread-bearing raven, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Paul the Hermit, who lived nearly 100 years in the desert on little more than prayer, pray for us!