Gospel reflection - The sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - the healing of the leper - Mark 1:40-45

      As we hear about Jesus healing the leper in today’s Gospel from the first chapter of Mark, we might think about how lepers were some of the most feared people in the ancient world.  Leprosy was a very contagious disease, so it was greatly feared.  In most ancient societies, the solution was to isolate the leper and to not allow him to approach others.  This disease was very painful and debilitating, with the physical disintegration of the body and its limbs.  But the ostracism and contempt that the leper endured was probably more painful than the physical effects of the disease.     

       I think of leprosy as a disease I associate with biblical times and the ancient world, not something that we face today.  In addition, we probably associate leprosy with Father Damien of Molokai, a Belgian missionary priest and a member of our community of saints.  Father Damien died of leprosy in 1889 after have served as the priest to the residents of the leper colony on the island of Molokai in Hawaii for 16 years.  Nevertheless, recently I read an article that stated that although the number of individuals with leprosy in the world has decreased greatly in recent years, there are more than 200,000 new cases of leprosy each year throughout the world, with about half of those cases in India.  Yet, when caught early, leprosy can be treated and cured.

       In our Gospel today, a leper, full of desperation, gets down on his knees before Jesus and asks him in an act of great faith: “If you want to, you can cure me.”  Already, in this same narrative from the first chapter of Mark, we have seen Jesus heal Simon’s mother-in-law, the man possessed by an unclean spirit, and many others who approached him for healing.  His faith is sufficient in order for him to be healed and to be made whole.  

       Even though leprosy still exists in the world, most of us here in the United States probably have not met a leper before.  Yet, I wonder: Who are the lepers in our society, those who are outcasts and who are ostracized by mainstream society?  These types of lepers certainly exist in our world.  How can we help them find acceptance and healing?