Perhaps one of the most moving scenes of the Gospel—the narratives of
the evangelists are full of them—is the one that we have this Sunday, the sixth
in Ordinary Time. In the encounter between Jesus and the leper, we can almost
feel the tension between the latter (whose name is not mentioned, but who is
rather known through the condition that he suffers), driven by his need to be
healed, and the Lord Jesus, who is moved by compassion. Were we to place
ourselves in the skin (no pun intended) of the leper, we would be able to
understand his desperate plea to the Lord: “If you wish, you can make me
clean”. We are all aware what being a leper in biblical times means; the First
Reading, taken from the book of Leviticus, which explains the laws by which the
people of Israel would have to live by, shows how people stricken with skin
disease—especially leprosy—are to be treated: he was to keep his garments rent,
his head uncovered, and his beard muffled; he was to advertise the fact of his
ailment to others, so that they would keep far away from him; furthermore, he
was to live outside of the settlement, rejected, until he is healed of the
disease (though if one were to be truly stricken with leprosy in those times,
there was very little hope for that). In a few words, to be stricken with it
was not merely shameful (the rent clothing, the shaved and uncovered head, the
muffled beard—a sign of manly beauty—and the public advertisement of uncleanliness
were all indicative of the public shame that the sufferer had to bear); the
leper was actually regarded dead. True, the deformed and degenerated state of
the sufferer merely reminded everybody that he was on his way to the grave. As
I write these words, my eyes rest on a beautiful painting which captures the
scene. At the feet of Jesus one sees the leper. Barely dressed in a shroud-like garment, he appears as
if he rises from the tomb to new life.
New life. For the leper,
this was what the Lord was for him when he happened to pass by. Everything
seems doomed for the tomb until he prostrates himself before Jesus and makes
his request, moving in its humility, and yet full of faith. Jesus, moved with
pity, stretched out his hand, touched him and said: “I do will it. Be made clean”. The result was immediate: the disease
instantly left him, and he was made clean.
The fact that the leper
didn’t have any name invites us to see ourselves within the skin of the leper.
Like him, we are also known for our weaknesses; before the Holy One, all of us
stand as sinners: filthy, ragged, impure, walking carcasses. For all the
glamour and attraction that it may use to tempt us into sin, the devil, the
flesh and the world will always leave us like the leper: with garments torn,
our heads shaven like criminals, and our own beauty marred, we are nothing more
like the garbage and refuse thrown outside the walls. Sin makes us ugly; not only does it uglify, but it also divides. Not
only does it divide, but in the final instance, it kills: it destroys the
life that God has placed in our hearts, it disfigures His likeness in our
souls, and thwarts the plan that he has for each of us.
And so, like the leper, we
go to Jesus, who is always for us with a heart full of compassion and pity.
Compassion and forgiveness has this power to rebuild what has been torn down.
In the sacrament of Confession the Lord patiently waits for us. In a society
bombarded by showy senate trials, one could appreciate that in the confessional
we could find the only tribunal in the world wherein one’s sincere declaration
of guilt acquits him of his crimes.
It is in the sacrament of
Confession that Christ does what he did in the gospel: he stretched out his hand, touched and said to him, “I do will it. Be
clean”. In this marvelous sacrament, the Lord extends his hand, the divine
Healer touches us, and through His word, makes us clean. The forgiveness of
sins is not done through mere wishful thinking. Through the ministry of the
Church, the Lord grants us pardon and peace, as the formula of sacramental
absolution reminds us. In the ministry
of the priest—a sinner like all of us, in the same need of God’s pardon—Christ
continues to touch, heal, pardon and strengthen. What more direct way could
there be of knowing the Good News of God’s mercy, when we can hear the words of
divine pardon through the mouth of the priest? Could there be any more direct
way of making our confession, when we are really sure that we are heard, and we
ourselves hear the words “I absolve you from your sins”?
In order to see this one
precisely needs the faith that comes from God; the grace to believe in that
forgiving WORD that has made itself flesh and that dwells among us, this time
in the ministry of His priests, in the ministry of His Church. The confession of sins is a confession of
faith, the same faith that pushed the leper to say “If you wish, YOU can make me clean”. It is precisely for this
reason that it was the Lord’s will that the forgiveness of sins be done through
the ministry of those whom He had chosen to continue His work on earth.
With Christ touching us
through this sacrament, the life of grace is restored to us: we are brought
back to life. St. Irenaeus once said, “the glory of God is man truly alive”. We
cannot give glory to God while remaining in the death of sin. However, with
lives animated by God’s grace, we could live according to the way St. Paul
admonishes us in the Second Reading, in the letter to the Corinthians: whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do everything for the glory of God.
May the example of the leper
move us always to go out and encounter Christ in the sacrament of Confession,
so that in receiving the forgiveness of sins, we may be able to give praise to
God with pure lives, and express the joy of salvation that lies in our hearts
through works of love toward our neighbor. Amen.
FIRST READING: Lv. 13:1-2,
44-46
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 10:
31-11:1
GOSPEL: Mk. 1: 40-45.
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ReplyDeleteHow does one know that what one is doing is what God wants and not merely what the person wants?
ReplyDeleteThat's a very tough question to answer, you know, since one has to consider a lot of things. In the first one can be sure of doing God's will by obeying the commandments, that's for sure. Another certainty would be answering the Lord's universal call to holiness, each in his own status and way of life. Doing the will of God in every moment is, I think, the trickier part, but I think this old adage could help in summarizing a hundred words: "Do what you must, and be in what you do"...I would also make the further observation that, basing on your question, there are times when what we want could be what God wants also, though not always. When do we know which is which? it depends on many factors, things which at the moment we do not have, since your question is a hypothetical one..
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