January 17, 2019 – To Be Free to Love

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot 

Father Paul Campbell, LC

Mark 1:40-45 

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Introductory Prayer: Lord, thank you for this time together. I need you in my life and the life of my family. It is easy to let activities overwhelm me so that I lose track of you. You fade into the distance, and sometimes sin grows closer. But I know you are always there for me with your unconditional love. Thank you. I love you and long to put you first in my life.

Petition: Lord, wash me from my sins and help me to be detached from them.

1. If You Choose: A leper approaches and falls before Jesus. “If you choose, you can make me clean.” This leper couldn’t free himself from his disease any more than we can free ourselves from our sin. Leprosy was a fatal disease. It separated a man from his family and drove him outside his village to lonely places. Leprosy is a symbol for sin. Sin separates us from God and from others. We need to approach Jesus with that same humility and trust we see in the leper. This story is for us, to show us Christ’s heart. It reveals his love and his desire to free us from sin. Am I convinced of the ugliness of all sin and how it defaces our souls?

2. I Do Choose: Jesus chose to heal the leper. Not only did he heal him, he touched him. He reached out to the loneliness of that man, and he touched his life to cure him of the disease. This reveals Christ’s heart so beautifully. Our sin never drives him away from us. He is always ready and willing to come to our aid if only we would cry out for his help. Am I capable of opening all of the inner wounds of my sins to Our Lord so that he can heal me, wash me clean and make me whole again?

3. Jesus Wants Us Free: Sin keeps us from being who we were meant to be. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Jesus was free from sin and so was free to love and serve others. He wasn’t compelled by greed or anger. He wasn’t moved by pride or impeded by laziness. He was free to love, and he loved to the extent of dying on a cross. Sin closes us in on ourselves. We get absorbed in ourselves and others take the back seat – or no seat at all. How often do we say “no” to others and turn a blind eye to their needs? Isn’t it sin that blinds us and selfishness that impedes us from loving others as Christ loves us? Christ can free us from sin so that we are empowered to love as he loves.

Conversation with Christ: Jesus, I want to be free, but I need your help. Without you, I can do nothing. Help me to trust you and to turn to you. Don’t let me go off on my own as if I could keep fighting without you. Free me to love you. Free me to love others.

Resolution: I will pray Psalm 51 for myself and my loved ones.

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God 

51 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when vNathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 

1  wHave mercy on me,1 O God, 

according to your steadfast love; 

according to your xabundant mercy 

yblot out my transgressions. 

2  zWash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 

and acleanse me from my sin! 

3  bFor I know my transgressions, 

and my sin is ever before me. 

4  cAgainst you, you only, have I sinned 

and done what is evil din your sight, 

eso that you may be justified in your words 

and blameless in your judgment. 

5  Behold, fI was brought forth in iniquity, 

and in sin did my mother conceive me. 

6  Behold, you delight in truth in gthe inward being, 

and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 

7  Purge me hwith hyssop, and I shall be clean; 

zwash me, and I shall be iwhiter than snow. 

8  Let me hear joy and gladness; 

jlet the bones kthat you have broken rejoice. 

9  lHide your face from my sins, 

and yblot out all my iniquities. 

10  mCreate in me a nclean heart, O God, 

and orenew a right2 spirit within me. 

11  pCast me not away from your presence, 

and take not qyour Holy Spirit from me. 

12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, 

and uphold me with a willing spirit. 

13  Then I will teach transgressors your ways, 

and sinners will rreturn to you. 

14  Deliver me from sbloodguiltiness, O God, 

O tGod of my salvation, 

and umy tongue will sing aloud of your vrighteousness. 

15  O Lord, open my lips, 

and my mouth will declare your praise. 

16  wFor you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; 

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 

17  The sacrifices of God are xa broken spirit; 

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 

18  yDo good to Zion in your good pleasure; 

zbuild up the walls of Jerusalem; 

19  then will you delight in aright sacrifices, 

in burnt offerings and bwhole burnt offerings; 

then bulls will be offered on your altar.