Curing The Leper / Curing Ourselves

"The one who bears the sore of leprosy                                                       

shall keep his garments rent and his head bare,
and shall muffle his beard;
he shall cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!'
As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean,
since he is in fact unclean.
He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp."
LV 13: 44-46 


A leper came to Jesus and kneeling down begged him and said,
"If you wish, you can make me clean."
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, 
touched him, and said to him, 
"I do, will it. Be made clean."
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. 

He said to him, "See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest 
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them."

The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.
MK 1:40-45

From Biblical times up to more modern times, the disease of Leprosy was considered a death sentence for those afflicted.  It was considered a very contagious disease and the only cure for it was to throw the afflicted one out of society and have him dwell alone or with other lepers, anywhere but in with the healthy crowd.  

What this disease meant for the people that had it back then was a fate that was indeed worse than death.  They were, as I said, cast out of society and for Jews of that period that meant they were unable to worship Yahweh in the temple, participate in the Passover, or even go to the synagogue.  Couple that with the death sentence that their disease carried in this time before antibiotics and you had a sad situation indeed.  You also lost the support of your family and friends and had to depend on the long-distance charity of others to keep yourself fed.  It was a lonely and terrible way to live out your life.

Jesus knew all of these facts about what it was to be a leper. He also knew that to touch a leper would render himself ritually unclean and unable to enter temple or synagogue for a period of time, such was the fear that this disease carried with it.  But, Jesus is God, did He have to touch the leper to effect a cure?  Of course not, He is God, and could have just willed the cure to happen.  Then there must be a reason why He reached out His hand and used physical touch to cure this man riddled with disease and full of hope and faith. 

The physical act of touching the leper was restorative not of the man's body but of his heart and soul.  We do not know how long this man had been afflicted but we do know that he approached alone so perhaps he was handling this disease without the company of even other lepers, no human contact at all. His self-esteem was at its lowest.  The act of touching assured the man that he was indeed a worthy human being and that he was loved and the touch strengthened his mind and his body at the same time. 

So, where does that leave us in the scheme of things?  If we met a leper today, we would suggest that he go see a doctor because the disease is readily curable.  But we see lepers every day and we assign them to leper colonies that are just as horrible as they were back in the days of Jesus. 

There are people who have crossed our paths and have done us harm in some way.  We take their offense to heart and we cast them from us and wish them nothing good.  This is an understandable human reaction.  Some people seem to have the knack of offending where ever they go.  Sometimes they hurt us deeply, they hurt us physically, they hurt us mentally and they become lepers to us.  Where possible, we should reconsider the offenses that we charge them with and ask if they are truly unforgivable. Many times we can see our way clear to offering a pardon and repairing the relationship.  On the other hand, we do not have to return to a relationship that was abusive either physically or mentally because we, ourselves, are worthy creatures of God and do not deserve being treated cruelly.  

Do we continue to keep the offender in the leper colony?  Well, the answer is not an easy one.  As a Christian, we need to release the person who hurt us and forgive them as we hope to be forgiven by the Father.  It does not mean we have to invite them back into our house to pick up where we left off because we need to protect ourselves from physical, mental, and spiritual harm and we have the right and duty to do so.  Forgive, yes, it is required for us to do so.  Volunteer for more?  Not on your life should you put yourself back into a situation you have successfully gotten yourself out of. 

One other way to look at this is perhaps we are the leper.  Have we committed offenses against others that have placed us on the outside looking in?  Are we brave enough to accept the fact that we might have been wrong in what we did or said?  If we are the leper and we need to make amends, we have to do so with care and consideration.  If our offenses hurt others deeply, we should apologize from afar, keeping our distance as a good leper should, meaning what we say and then comes the hard part, we must stay away from the other party and be content with the knowledge that we have done what we could to heal the wounds and because the wounds were caused by our actions in the first place and were so deep, we will wait patiently for the day when the other party makes the first step towards us and initiates repair of the relationship before we try to get any closer than a leper should get. 

It is very hard for us to accept that sometimes, no matter how much we apologize and how heartfelt that the apology was that the relationship may be past the point where healing is possible.  The hard fact is that out of love for the other person we have to accept their decision and we have to move on and leave the situation in the hands of God.  He has seen our actions and knows what is in our heart and that is all we have to worry about.  

PRAY FOR THE POOR SOULS IN PURGATORY 

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”