Feburary 14: 

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This weekend the entire church throughout the world is asked to apply the following scriptures to life.

Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46  Before the pandemic we may have thought this scripture was harsh. Now we live in the daily reality that some illnesses must be isolated in order to protect humanity. At a ministry conference in the 1970s, I met Yolanda, a 79-year-old Mexican woman who brought communion from the cathedral 50 miles each way, each week to lepers for 50 years! 

Psalm 32:1-2, 5,11 What a beautiful world it would be if we all acknowledged our sin to God, confessed our faults to Jesus.  When we turn to God in times of trouble God finds no guile in us and takes away our guilt.

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 And what a beautiful world it will be when we avoid giving offense to all people and not seek our own benefit but that of the many!  St. Paul writes of these behaviors as ways to imitate Christ.  I visited Corinth with Fr. Richard Rohr and sensed the history of a vibrant, sophisticated city at the crossroads of the empire.  While imagining Corinth in Paul's time when it bustled and rang with languages from all over the world, not unlike our cities today, I thought of our local news early this month.  A traumatized nine-year-old girl was yelled out for "acting like a child!" Was a traumatized child whose culture is different from mine treated the way my granddaughter would be treated were she to threaten suicide and repeatedly scream for her father?  Would the police call 211 for trauma-informed therapists to race to the scene and use their de-escalation training to calm the little girl?  We are graced by God to avoid giving offense to all people and not seek our own benefit but that of the many.  How can our policies, our training manuals, and our practices better reflect not giving offense and benefitting the many?  

Mark 1:40-45  Jesus touched a leper! St. Francis kissed a leper!  Jesus and St. Francis put the leper's needs above their own! In this Gospel story, the presence of God in Jesus is so great that it cannot be hidden.  The good news of healing cannot be silenced!  Jesus is found by this manifestation of healing and people come from "everywhere" to the healer. We too are gifted to be healers by the way we serve the needs of those who are ill in our neighborhood and families and support health workers near and far.  Jesus is healing through us as we lovingly show compassion in our response to illness of every kind.  Jesus is with us as we demand changes so that home health aides and all essential workers receive a living wage. 
               Deni Mack, D.Min, Pastoral Associate Emerita