A leper
approaches Jesus, falling prostrate at his feet, and tells him: “Lord, if you
wish, you can make me clean.” Leprosy was
a very feared disease in the ancient world. There may
not be any physical lepers in our community today, but we can think of others
we treat as lepers in our society. When Jesus
cured this leper and brought healing into his life, it was not only his
physical condition that he was healing, but also his position within the
community as well. We can
bring the healing of Christ to our communities as bearers of his Good
News. Bringing the healing of
Christ to others is part of our role as disciples of his. In fact,
one of things I want to work at as a community of faith here at St James is to
make us a very welcoming community, to help everyone feel a warm welcome and
the love of Christ when they walk into our doors. It is
important for us to think of ways that we can bring healing to the lepers, to
bring the Good News of Christ to the stranger and to all who we meet. It will not
be easy, but it should be our goal. I have
mentioned to some of you that there are certainly many others we could join our
Happy Hearts group. Perhaps we could
invite a friend or think of those we could bring into our Happy Hearts
family. And it is
interesting to hear about the leper coming to Jesus for healing as we come to
Jesus for healing as well in the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. This is such a wonderful Sacrament to
celebrate in conjunction with the Eucharist, to have this encounter with Jesus
today. May we pray
that Jesus bring healing into our lives in a special way today, to brings us
healing, peace, and comfort in whatever way we need it in our lives.
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