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 really like to see hear at St Jude is the warm welcoming spirit that we have. Not only do we try to welcome visitors to our mass, to make them feel at home, I also have seen a great sense of bonding and welcome in the ALPHA program we have had in our parish this past year. Yes, if we enter a place and we feel like people are ignoring us or really caring about us, we can only imagine how the lepers in Jesus’ day through their isolation in their community.
In his recent message of prayer for world peace that he delivered on January 1 to mark the beginning of the new year, Pope Francis spoke about his apostolic visit to Japan where he met some of those who survived the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Japan at the end of the second world war. Pope Francis spoke about how memory is so important, how we can keep in our memory what we have learned from past events in order to shape our future. As a fruit of these learnings and these experiences, the Pope calls us to greater understanding, to reconciliation, and to peace.
Healing, reconciliation, peace, and participation in the community. That is what was central to the life of the leper in the Gospel today. That is what is central in our lives as well. May we all hear this message calling out to us today so that we can be bridge building and conveyers of these Gospel values in the world today.
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