Compassion as 'heart-to-heart' encounter with another is what we see in the cure of the leper by Jesus. It is this miracle which reveals Jesus' divine power in the healing of the leprosy. Jesus knew what suffering and rejection entailed. He still reaches out to us when we are in pain and suffering. We also see in Jesus' response to the cured leper - "sternly ordered him" (Mk. 1:43) - which shows Jesus' deep anger towards those who lack compassion and reject those who are marginalized and rejected in society.

Who are the 'lepers' in our society today? How do we receive them? Are we like the priests who were concerned more with regulations in Jesus' time and which marginalize people in our community and society in our time.

Let us respond to the invitation to grow in our compassion as we put on the mind of Christ in what St. Paul said in the second reading that 'we do all for the glory of God' and work towards peace, unity and reconciliation especially in our troubled world today.

Like the Psalmist, let us pray that, under all circumstances: