Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Leprosy in the Bible is equated to sin. Like leprosy sin separates us from others, forces us to be alone, and makes it difficult to live with others. All of us lepers, since we are all sinners. We are all very selfish, often wrapped up in our own things. If you think you are not selfish, you are blind. It afflicts all of us, some more than others, but no one escapes it. Most of the day we think only of ourselves, our comfort, our life, our time, our money, our family; everything is in function of ourselves. Sometimes we can serve, and we can do it selflessly, but even then, we fall into the trap of thinking that we are good so then vanity enters. Look at me, I am so good and generous.
This selfishness forces us to be alone like the leper who was required to do. He had to live outside the town; he could not worship with others. He could not enter the synagogue. He was a cursed man, considered a sinful man because of his disease. The Jewish people always thought that a sickness was because the person sinned. This is one reason why the cure had to be verified by a priest. He had to be checked from top to bottom and if clean there was a rite to welcome him back into the community.
What is the leprosy that separates us from one another? It is selfishness. This obliges us to be alone. This ego which in Latin means, I or me, is what is important: me, me, me, me. Everyone and everything has to revolve around me. How many times do we use the word ‘I or me’ during the day? It is countless times. How often do we want others to listen to us? How often do we want to impose our way of doing things on others? It has to be this way, not that way. It is always: me, me, me, me!
This leprosy consumes us; it eats us up. This selfishness makes us sadder and sadder. We then can become depressed and bitter. We think everything is bad or wrong. The other one does everything wrong. We criticize the government, the president, the boss, the kids, the neighbor, the mother-in-law, everyone. Everything is a disaster. Is anyone good?
I love this man in the gospel who is a leper. He has such a great love for God’s will. Last week we spoke a bit about how to pray. Instead of always praying for ourselves, it is better to speak to God about others, as the apostles did with Jesus when they saw how sick Peter’s mother-in-law was. They spoke to Jesus about her; they prayed. We are always praying that things around me change. Lord, change my spouse or my job or these kids. Lord, help me, help me.
But this man is not like that. He has a deep love for the will of God. Look what he says to Jesus: Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean. He listens to the voice of the Lord. Like Mary who says, Lord, let it be done according to your will. We cannot be Christians if we do not listen to God. How many times have we come to the Eucharist without hearing anything from God for ourselves. The music is great, the priest told a few jokes; we had a good laugh and were so happy. But our life was not transformed. We leave and our life is the same. Often, we lack a deep listening which leads us to change.
The leper kneels down, he prostrates himself on the ground. What is your ground, what is your land? It is whatever God has given you. The leper accepts the life that he has. Do you lower yourself before the Lord, before your spouse? Do you look at wonder at the land, the gifts God has given you? Do you prostrate yourself before them. What is my land? It is this parish, not another one. My land is my celibacy, not to have a wife or a girlfriend. Do I bow before that, before my people here? This is my land and I kneel down before it. Your land is your children, your boss. This is what this leper does. His prayer is wonderful: if you want, you can make me clean. I unite myself to whatever you want. If you don’t want to cure me, I accept whatever you want.
This is what it means to pray. Lord, I accept your will. If you want, cure my mother; if not, I accept it. But many do not pray like this. They go to every statue of Mary and every holy place demanding a cure. They don’t give God the option not to cure. This is not Christianity. Lord, if you want you can make me clean. Wow, what a great sign of love for God’s will. I bow down before this reality. He lowers himself before Christ, before his ground, before God’s will. Jesus in his immense compassion says, I do will it; be made clean. And he extends his hand and touches the leper.
What a risk he takes. To touch a leper is to risk being infected and even more important to be declared unclean and then he could not be with others. He could not go to the synagogue. To touch a leper was worse than touching a dead person, but Jesus Christ took this risk to become impure for love of this man, for love of you and of me.
St. Paul had a thorn in his side that he asked the Lord to remove. We don’t know exactly what it was, perhaps a violent temper. After many requests, God answered him: my grace is enough for you. He did not take it away. Our prayer should be like this leper: Lord, If you want, you can make me clean. You can do it, but I accept whatever you think is best for me.