Scripture Reflection for Jan. 11, 2008

Scripture: I John 5:5-13. Psalm 147. Luke 5:12-16. Lectionary #217:

Luke is the Gospel that emphasizes Jesus at prayer. Today, after healing a
leper, Jesus goes off alone and prays. This, too, is a manifestation of
his humanness during this week of epiphanies from the life of Jesus.. This
gift of prayer will be continued by Luke as he develops his narrative about
the beginnings of the Church; it is a Church, a community of people who
pray. God manifests gifts to us when we pray. We do this often in a
community of faith or we share our prayer with others in what is called the
prayer of faith. We also pray the Scriptures when we read them slowly and
see where they are leading us for the day. Benedictine monks have made
this their practice and call it "lectio divina" or faith reflections about
the spiritual and divine. In today's healing we are told by St. Luke that
Jesus' reputation spread more and more, and great crowds gathered to hear
him and to be cured of their maladies. This is the manifestation of Jesus
given to us for this day. It was, however, the prayerful and faith-filled
plea of the leper that led Jesus to cure him and to manifest his power over
sickness and illness. Our first reading from John emphasizes the power of
belief in Jesus and this is primarily shown through our prayers. Symbolic
elements like blood, water, and spirit are added in the text to assure us
of the power of faith. We learn from the inspired writers HOW to believe
and WHOM to believe. It is quite clear that John wants us to believe in
the Person of Jesus: "I have written this to make you realize that you
possess eternal life--you who believe in the name of the Son of God."
Amen.