Mt. 8:1-4 “Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him.”

The scene presented to us in today’s Gospel is deeply moving and revealing of who Jesus is and his mission. Let us make the composition of place as if we were part of those who walked with Jesus when the leper approached him. Let us listen to the request of that poor, sick and above all marginalized man; let us contemplate the gestures and words with which Jesus responds to his request and imagine the amazement of the spectators… This is how Jesus shows us that He came to save what was lost, to integrate the marginalized, to free the captives and above all to restore to all their dignity as children of God. This is how He says to the healed man: “Go and present yourself to the priest and take the offering sent so that he may know that you have been healed.” This is how that man who until then was a disposable man has risen.