Today's Gospel
The Power of Begging
3 min

God hasn’t stopped speaking. We’ve Stopped Listening.
Bring The Three Ordinary Voices of God to your parish this Easter for as low as $2 a copy (plus FREE shipping!). Are you ready to hear God speak like never before?

Gospel
Mk 1:40-45
And a leper came to him beseeching him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesusg could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
Readings are from Dynamic Catholic’s New Testament Bible: RSV Catholic Edition


It’s time to take back your life.
It’s time to slow down to the speed of joy.
All revolutions have a moment when they begin. This is your moment.
Transcript
The Power of Begging
Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the gospel. Now, we need to listen closely today because we have one of those readings we hear many times throughout the course of the year. And we heard just a few days ago from one of the other gospels. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark chapter 1, verses 40 through 45. A leper came to him, beseeching him and kneeling said to him, "If you will it, you can make me clean." Move with pity. He stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will it be clean." And immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.
And he sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to the people." And he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town but was out in the country and people came to him from every quarter. What jumps out at you today? The word. Remember each day we're looking for a word or phrase or an idea that the Holy Spirit uses to stir something within you.
The word that jumped out of me today was pity. We read, "Moved with pity." Jesus stretched out his hand. Move with pity. What is it that you see in a world that moves you with pity, with compassion, with mercy, with pity and draws you to relieve someone else's suffering in the ways that you can. And we all can. We all have this incredible ability to lighten each other's load, this incredible ability to ease each other's burdens, to ease each other's suffering. And yet we leave it very often unemployed or certainly underemployed. The other thing that strikes me today is like this guy is begging Jesus. And when was the last time you begged Jesus for anything?
Because we see it over and over in the gospels. And we see it because they had seen firsthand what Jesus was capable of. And we might say we believe, or we might academically believe, "Oh, yeah, Jesus can do this, Jesus can do that." But when was the last time you asked him emphatically? When was the last time you begged God for anything? And I think from the begging comes two things. One is a realization of great need, and two is the realization that God can deliver. And the people in the gospel were not confused about that.
They constantly came to Jesus asking him for things, begging him for things, believing, knowing that he could deliver. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.