Make Me Clean

SEDL Prayer Session • 11 January 2005

A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere (Mark 1: 40-45).

Grace : Lord Jesus, if you wish, you can make me clean.

Points for Prayer:

1. Bring to mind three significant events, persons, circumstances of the past week. Recall: what happened, where it happened, who were the people involved. As you bring all these things to mind, be sensitive too with the feelings that surface.
2. Meditate on the passage above. Read the passage slowly. Allow the words to wash over you. Savor each word. Stay with the words that especially catch your attention. Absorb them the way the thirsty earth receives the rain. Repeat the words or phrases, aware of the feelings that are awakened in you. Read and reread the passage lovingly as you would a letter from a dear friend, or a sweet lover, or your spouse.
3. What areas in your life do you see the need for healing? Name those areas and facets of your life. You might want to journal or to write those things in your diary. After naming them, go back to each of those areas. What particular concerns surface? What significant feelings emerge?
4. Imagine yourself in front of your God. Share with your God the things that came up in prayer point no. 3. Then, Kneel before God and beg God to touch you and to heal you. Beg your God, “make me clean.”
5. Listen to your God. What did God do to you? What happened to you?
6. End by thanking your God.

Night is truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth and we are reconciled with God (an Easter Proclamation).