Day: February 11, 2024

Mass for the Conferral of Papal Honors

February 10, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46
Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1
Mark 1:40-45

Today’s Gospel shows Jesus’ compassion in healing a man with leprosy. Jesus then sends the healed man to the priests of the Temple to show them that he has been healed in accord with the norms of the Old Covenant and the regulations for the Temple. Yet, Jesus does more than simply bring the man into compliance with the norms of the Temple. Rather, Jesus truly cures the man at the root of the disease that causes true alienation and ostracism from society, that is sin itself. In so doing, Jesus shows Himself to be not only the Christ but the Son of God who fulfills the Old Covenant that is only provisional until the coming of the Christ.