Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
January 16, 2025
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.
Those of us of a certain age might remember laughing at Monty Python sketches poking fun at the ancient decrees, imposed by the Book of Leviticus, on the treatment of people suffering from leprosy. “Unclean! Unclean!”
Lepers, the ultimate outsiders, were to leave their homes, rend their garments, muss their hair, cover their mouths, and announce their wretchedness loudly lest anyone draw near and be infected. Their pustulating sores were understood as a tangible sign of God’s displeasure, a manifestation of sin—woe to anyone who did not shun the unclean.
But in today’s gospel, Jesus, obeying a more excellent law, does the unthinkable: Not only does he not shun the leper, he speaks with him, touches him, and through that touch, loves him back into community. The audaciousness of that love startles and challenges me.
Who are the unclean in our world? Addicts? People living in encampments? Those lacking the requisite immigration documentation? Folks holding cardboard signs and begging for money at intersections? Whose eyes are we tempted not to meet? Whose touch do we shy away from?
Closer to home, perhaps it’s the relative or neighbor, maybe even classmate, whose political inclinations we cannot abide, whose motivations we mistrust, and whose aims we abhor. We say in our hearts, “Unclean! Unclean!” We feel ourselves drawing back into our sense of ideological superiority and moral purity. Surely, God is on our side, we think. Surely, the law forbids condoning such filthy infidelity.
And yet, Jesus touches the leper. Jesus shows us that love cures even the worst afflictions, those that separate us from each other and would cleave the beloved community. Dare we follow that example of love? Might we pray for the grace to be unafraid to reach out to those our instincts tell us we should shun?
If we don’t, we are the unclean.
Prayer
Protect us, Lord, from thinking that our healing depends on the strength and frequency of our prayers. Help us remember and proclaim to the world by our lives that through your Son you will it now and always that we be made and remain clean of heart and spirit. We make this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Titian was born in the middle of the sixth century in Italy to a family of nobles. He was educated by Bishop Floriano of Oderzo and later ordained by him. He devoted himself to serving the poor, and also served as a treasurer of the diocese of Oderzo (a see that no longer exists). When Floriano was moved to another diocese, Titian was chosen the new bishop by popular acclaim. He resisted, trying to get Floriano to return, but eventually assumed the new pastoral responsibilities.
He was a devout man who modeled a holy life for his people and was known as an excellent preacher. Many miracles were said to have occurred at his tomb in Oderzo, and a small relic from St. Titian rests in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
The main body of his relics are the subject of an interesting story. When Oderzo was sacked by invading forces, people from the saint’s hometown of Eraclea tried to steal his relics, which were kept in a bronze urn. A fierce battle between people from Eraclea and Oderzo erupted over the relics and both towns agreed to a unique solution. They placed his relics in a wagon pulled by oxen, and decided that wherever the oxen stopped is where his relics would be housed. The oxen stopped in a town called Ceneda, and his relics remain there today.
St. Titian of Oderzo, you were the faithful bishop who led his people by word and example—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Titian of Oderzo is available for use under a Creative Commons license. Last accessed November 14, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
_-_Chapel_St_Mauro_-_San_Tiziano,_vescovo_di_Oderzo.jpg){kind=link}