General. While the Eucharist is celebrated in a heavenly liturgy, those who participate in the Praise of the Lamb have been whitened and purified by great tribulations which made them righteous and having a pure heart. It is there that the Lamb sets His abode and we pray Him that He may also enter our heart, if we only really wish it and understand the true meaning of His coming in our midst.

Leviticus. As the leper has to be aware of his condition and cry out to all that he is unsound and impure so that God may hear his implorations and heal him, so has the sinner to be aware of his sins and of their gravity for those around him to be able to obtain God’s forgiveness and that of those he lives with who would have borne the full brunt of his sinful state.

Psalm 31. Happy is the man whose sins are forgiven since God does not attribute any wickedness to him. He would feel being forgiven if only he speaks out his sin and does not keep it hidden from all around him. In confiding in the Lord and praising Him, the repentant man is happy in the Lord for having sought and obtained salvation.

First Letter to the Corinthians. Living in the world, whatever we do should be done for the glory of God. The secret to all this is to please all in truth without seeking one’s own comfort but that of many with the sole aim of reaching happiness. St Paul’s strength lay, in his own words, in living the life of Christ in its fulness.

St Mark. The leper’s request to Jesus was done with great faith. He knew His powers and he implored Him from the depth of his heart to heal him. This imploration could well have been done by a sinner. Jesus demanded one important thing from the leper – that he fulfills the Law and make a gift to the temple as ordained by the Law of Moses. Yet he could not do otherwise than go out and proclaim that he had seen the glory of the Lord Jesus at work with him, making an act of thanksgiving in a rite of public praise.

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