From today’s Scripture: “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”—Lk 5:12

Growing up in the scorching sun of Kenya, I always felt uncomfortable if I skipped a shower for lack of water (especially on the days I didn’t help collect water from a far, running stream!). Without a bath, the struggle to get some sleep at night was real. Cleanliness, whether physical or spiritual, must be godliness, don’t you think?

Jesus offers daily the cleansing baptismal water from his side, or his Divine Word, to make us whole and clean. But we must will it. We must seek him out to make us clean. Like the leper in today’s Gospel, we must cry out that Jesus may cleanse us of our leprosy of sinfulness. He must clean us of the dirt that covers us.

Let us pray: May God bless us with discomfort at our sinfulness so that we may rise, search for, and draw the cleansing water that he offers us.

Today’s author is Glenmary Father Kenn Wandera, who is currently in doctoral studies at the University of Dayton.

Free delivery!  Sign up to receive this in English or in Spanish daily by email.