The Journey: cleansed by the Word

WORD 2day: Thursday, 1st week in Ordinary time

January 16, 2025 - Hebrews 3: 7-14; Mark 1: 40-45

The Journey of faith we begin with the Lord, and embark upon in communion, is a journey towards compassion, in a continuos sense of repentance, constantly cleansed by the Word. If we need be cleansed by the Word, there are three conditions to be noted:

The Word comes, I need to note it: From where we saw Jesus yesterday, Peter's home, he is entering another village, and we see the person with leprosy went to meet Jesus. The Word constantly comes to encounter us, but it is our responsibility to go out to receive it; if our hearts are hardened we shall not receive the Word, we shall let the Lord pass by. 

The Word can cleanse, I need to believe it: "If you choose, you can make me clean," that was a profession of faith. The Word is powerful and alive, but I need to believe that the Word can touch me and heal me, purify and cleanse me. Only if I believe, I would place myself under the merciful gaze of the Word, to look at me and cleanse me, speak to me and purify me!

The Word can liberate, I need to ask for it: We are made co-heirs with Christ, but we need to hold on to Christ; the Lord says, "I wish to cleanse you", but we need to ask for it to be cleansed, to be liberated and to be led to the house of the Lord: go, show yourself to the priest and be a child of God. The Reign of God consists in this, in recognising the power of God to make us whole, in believing that the Lord chooses to make me whole and in asking the Lord with the childlike simplicity to be made whole!