Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
June 25, 2021
Friday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 375
Reading I
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him
and said: “I am God the Almighty.
Walk in my presence and be blameless.”
God also said to Abraham:
“On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you
that you must keep:
every male among you shall be circumcised.”
God further said to Abraham:
“As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai;
her name shall be Sarah.
I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her.
Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations,
and rulers of peoples shall issue from him.”
Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself,
“Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?
Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?”
Then Abraham said to God,
“Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!”
God replied: “Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son,
and you shall call him Isaac.
I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact,
to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.
As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him.
I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly.
He shall become the father of twelve chieftains,
and I will make of him a great nation.
But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac,
whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year.”
When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.
Responsorial Psalm
- (4) See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. See how the Lord blesses those who fear him.
Alleluia
- Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ took away our infirmitiesand bore our diseases.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.
And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said,
“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”
He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I will do it. Be made clean.”
His leprosy was cleansed immediately.
Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one,
but go show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift that Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
Reflection: WICKEDNESS OF CASTE SYSTEM
From the episode of the healing of the leper, what touched me today was the touch of Jesus! He did not feel polluted to touch an unclean person. In fact, the touch of Jesus cleans the pollution of the other person. In India we have the caste system, which is not merely a class division or specialization of labour or skills. It is fundamentally an evil theory, with religious sanction by which one group of people considers another group as "polluting", "unclean" and hence untouchable! Understanding external pollution is easy. If you touch something that is unclean by contamination with a virus, let us say, coronavirus, you get infected, i.e., polluted. Now, what is the content of the so-called pollution of the untouchable castes? What is the infection that they carry, for which contact with them should be avoided? There is nothing, in reality. Hence this "pollution” is a mental construct, unreal. Precisely because physically this is a false theory, it is given a spiritual or religious meaning and a divine sanction, to make appear as if this pollution is something real, and deadly. In the spiritual world, this idea of pollution is totally irrational. In fact, it is a polluted mind that produces the idea of religious or spiritual pollution. It is possible to spiritually pollute someone through our own spiritual pollution, i.e., our sinfulness. But you cannot make someone spiritually polluted by a mere physical touch or proximity. Herein lies the core wickedness of the caste system. In fact, in the spiritual realm, it is purity that is infectious, not the pollution. That is why, our spirituality promotes the saint to be close to the sinner! When Jesus touched people with pollution, it is they who became pure, and not he who become polluted, be it physically or spiritually.