Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time/B
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Mk 1:40-45) a leper kneeling before Jesus implores “If you are willing, you can cleanse me!”. The leper’s plea belongs deeply to us and expresses a deep need of ours. In fact, we only become capable of asking for help if we recognise and accept a discomfort, the presence of something wrong. Just as we only go to the doctor if we recognise and accept that we are not well.
Recognising a discomfort in our lives, like recognising a need, is exactly what can, in a healthy way, lead us to change our lives, to venture into unknown terrain, to leave our habits and securities behind. Recognising our need to love and be loved can lead us ‘beyond’ our deep-rooted patterns, recognising our need for meaning, and the deep discomfort that not satisfying it generates, can positively ‘move’ our lives.
In essence, recognising that we are not enough for ourselves, that reality surpasses us, and that only in ‘relationship’ can we truly place ourselves and understand ourselves in truth, is not easy, it is not to be taken for granted. This is what allows us to live in reality, what enables us to have a true relationship with God and with others.
Asking for help like the leper is not a sign of weakness, but the point of arrival of a demanding path of healthy and real awareness of our own personal self, our inner life, just as in our professional life.
The Communion antiphon for today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 77 (Ps 77, 29. 30) with the following text:
Manducaverunt, et saturati sunt nimis,
et desiderium eorum attulit eis Dominus:
non sunt fraudati a desiderio suo.
(They ate and were fully satisfied;
the Lord gave them all that they desired;
they were not deprived of their wants).
The attached music, in Gregorian Chant, is taken from the Gradual Triplex published in Solesmes in 1979. The interpretation is by the ‘Cantori Gregoriani’ conducted by Fulvio Rampi .A blessed
Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
