Discussion Questions

First Reading

Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46

F1. Compare and contrast the way lepers were treated in Leviticus (First Reading) with the way Jesus treated them (Gospel).

F2.  In these days ritual demanded that if you had the sore of leprosy you had to “tear your clothes, be excluded, live apart from those you loved, and announce your presence by shouting ‘unclean’”? Are some people treated in a similar way today? Give examples.

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1

S1. Paul says, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” In which of your day’s activities is it easy for you to remember the presence of God? Which are difficult? Can you gradually remember the presence of God in all your actions?

S2. In Paul’s time, when Christians sat down to share meals, there were a lot of problems, caused by different religious backgrounds and practices. How does the statement “do everything for the glory of God” work for you as a solution when there is a decision about how to act?

Gospel

Mark 1:40-45

G1.  “Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, ‘I do will it. Be made clean.’” Are you moved with pity in any of the “unclean” situations we are experiencing in our world: Pandemic? Climate crises? Racial injustice? Trafficking? Is there anything you can do to aid Jesus with the cleansing?

G2. In his homily at Santa Marta on Jan. 22, 2015, Pope Francis spoke about the many people Jesus had cured, like the leper in today’s Gospel. How are those miracles relevant for you today?

Jesus saves! These healings, these words that reach the heart, are the sign and the beginning of salvation—the path of salvation for many who begin to go to hear Jesus or to ask for a healing and then turn to him and feel salvation.

Jesus has gone to the Father and from there he still intercedes, every day, at all times for us. This is something current: Jesus before the Father, offering his life, the redemption, showing the Father his wounds, the price of salvation. Every day Jesus intercedes.

When we, for one reason or another, feel a little down, let’s remember that it is he who prays for us, intercedes for us continuously

Morning meditation in the chapel of the
Domus Sanctae Martha

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University