Sacred Heart Bulletin for February 11, 2018

Question of the Week

Gospel Reading               Mark 1:40—45
Leprosy in Jesus’ day was ugly, incurable, unclean, and turned the sufferer into a pariah.  A person with leprosy was required to ring a bell whenever he came near other people, and call out, “Unclean, unclean!” The leper in this account has evidently heard accounts of Jesus’ healings, and so he believes that Jesus CAN heal him. Whether he will or not is an open question: the leper may have had years of experience of people turning the other way and leaving quickly when he approached. But Jesus not only stops to look him in the face, he touches his bruised and scabby flesh, saying those miraculous words, “Be made clean.” 
Jesus must have known that no matter how much he admonished the (now former) leper not to advertise his healing, that he would joyfully tell the world.

Question: What long-standing ills would I like Jesus to heal? Can he? Will he? Do I believe that he can and will heal me if I ask?

 

Bulletin 2/11/18

 

Photo Credit: Healing of the Leper by Niels Larsen Stevns – 1913
Source:    Wikimedia