Find strength in your faith through Jesus' healing power, as reflected in the story of the leper in Mark 1:40-45. Read more for inspiration and prayer.
Today's Gospel: Mark 1:40-45
This is one of my favorite Gospel stories. I can feel the discouragement and the desperation in the leper's voice as he approaches Jesus and falls to his knees. This man has suffered under the cross of his illness, which has stripped him of any identity other than leper. This illness has sentenced him to a life of exile from his family and from his community. He has lost everything except for his constant companions of pain and loneliness.
There are times in my life that I have felt stripped of any identity other than the pain of the brokenness that I have carried. There are moments when all of the darkness in my heart has created the feeling of emotional exile from even those closest to me. It's at those times of deep heartache that the posture of my heart mimics that of the leper in this Gospel. I see myself falling to my knees in front of Jesus, my self-sufficiency utterly spent and my heart completely opened and surrendered to Him. In humility, I utter words similar to the leper. "If You wish, You can heal my heart. If You wish, You can heal my family. If You wish, You can take this cross from me."
I always long to hear Jesus speak the same words He said to the leper: "I do will it." Sometimes Jesus' answer to my prayers filled with deep longing are answered quickly with the outcome I had hoped for. But even when His answer to me is "not yet," a prayerful interaction with Jesus brings the grace to continue hoping and waiting on His timing.
Ponder:
Is there something in your own life that makes you feel like the leper in this Gospel passage, and are you ready to kneel before Jesus and ask Him for relief from the burden you are carrying?
Pray:
Jesus, please give us the grace to lay our hearts before You. Please hear and tend to our deepest longings and heaviest burdens to give us the peace beyond all understanding. Thank You for Your merciful love.
Pray Together:
Offer and entrust your burdens to God at the end of each day.
Copyright 2026 Michelle Hamel
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