It may seem to us that the OT Laws around leprosy were very severe and indeed, so they were. Once a person was declared to have leprosy by Aaron or one of the priests, he then had to self-isolate and openly cry ‘Unclean, unclean’ to anyone who might approach them. Leprosy was highly contagious and had no formal cure. It generated a lot of fear as it inevitably led to the deterioration of the body and death. All this does sound very familiar to us, as we have lived through a pandemic and lockdowns. We know how many people suffered death in a most agonizing way from Covid, a virus that is still with us and still causes a lot of fear. Let us not forget those who suffered greatly in lockdown, especially the elderly living on their own, causing extreme loneliness and fear. Let us not forget the heroic work of many who risked their lives helping others during the pandemic.
When the leper today approached Jesus for a healing, he was breaking the law. He was desperate, but he also had faith. This is what cured him. Jesus did not shun him because of the Law but had compassion on him. He showed him His mercy, for this is why He had come among us. ‘If you will, you can make me clean’. ‘I will. Be clean’, Jesus replies. Does He not always want us to be ‘clean’? Yes, for He has come among us all to heal of the leprosy everyone suffers from, the leprosy of sin. The sinless One takes upon Himself the sins of the mankind. ‘Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us’ and ‘grant us peace’. But what does he require of us? Many ask the question why is that God does not stop all wars and grant us the peace we yearn for? Is He not the All-Powerful One? Yes, He can and Yes, He is. But let us ask the question of ourselves: Do we have faith? Do we really trust in God and trust in Jesus? Yes, we know He can heal, but do we really have faith? Do we nourish our faith? Do we have the daily practise of going to Him, without fear, as the Leper did, to pray, to beseech Him? How often in the Gospels do we read that Jesus upbraided the disciples for their lack of faith? To the blind men who asked to be healed, he replied ‘According to your faith be it done to you’.
Jesus was sent by the Father to come among us and show us what it means to be truly human. He wanted to move freely among the people to preach the Good News in all the towns and villages. He sternly charges the man to say nothing to anyone but simply to go and show himself to the priest what Moses commanded for a proof to the people. Jesus did not want to draw attention to Himself in such a way that He could no longer openly enter a town. But the man could not contain himself to do this simply. And what does it mean to be truly human? It means to live our lives in the truth that we are made in the image and likeness of God. This realization is the root of good moral behaviour. We note that Jesus Himself showed us the way by making prayer to His Father at the beginning and end of His ministry. Before this episode St Mark tells us that in the morning, a great while before day, ‘He rose and went out to a lonely place, and there He prayed.’ Do we think we have no time for prayer? Make time! Prayer is the very lifeline of our soul and without it we fail to be truly human and lose faith.
Lack of faith is a root cause of sin and a cause of a pandemic we should really be afraid of. But we want to see the miracles first, perhaps? Believe and you will see! Belief is primarily an act of the will rather than the intellect. But our heavily technological world and scientific mindsets want faith in our understanding first. ‘We may believe as we choose’, St John Henry Newman wrote. ‘But we are responsible of what we choose to believe’. Yes, search for Truth with sincerity of heart. But step out in faith and do it with prayer. Ask, seek, knock and the door will be opened for you, the door especially of your heart to Jesus who dwells within us. But our lack of faith and trust will keep Him shut out! We then try to resort to a worldly wisdom which clearly, evidently, scientifically proven if you will, does not work! But in fact, we have plenty of evidences, both in our own lives through the Providential care we experience and in the lives of the saints, seen through the eyes of Faith. Gain the wisdom of Our Lady and all the saints. It is there for the asking. Ponder the mysteries of God in your heart. Follow the traditional monastic precept of ora et labora – not two separate nouns as ‘prayer and work’, but two commands joined, pray and work. This is not for monks and nuns alone. It is for everyone. Let our lives be such that these commands are not two separate activities disjointed from one another so that one gets neglected but are truly one.