Daily Gospel Reflection for January 12, 2023

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Mark 1:40-45

In leper colonies, all were diseased and faced the same grueling, slow, grinding down towards death. I imagine lepers had a very specific compassion for one another, quite different from those without the disease. Those within the colony reached out to one another with a unique compassion borne from a common suffering, and in that compassion there was no disdain left in them.

Leprosy was known as a disease that ate away the person. And what of our own diseases that eat away at us physically, mentally, or spiritually? Do we not have a similar compassion-of-the-familiar for those who suffer as we do?

A friend who was a Catholic therapist shared about embattled men who only spoke to others of their shared trauma; warriors go to cry with other warriors—lepers embraced other lepers. There is no disdain between warriors of the same battle; whether the battle is physical or mental, there is an equaled pity of their experience.

Ponder:

What are the emotional challenges I face in my unique suffering? Will working with a Christian therapist help me to navigate my journey? Are there others in my life that share a similar burden?

Pray:

Lord, as we face our own diminishments, help us to navigate suffering and always remember that we are more than the sickness.

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There is no disdain between warriors of the same battle; whether the battle is physical or mental, there is an equaled pity of their experience. #dailygospel

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