Hey, Church Fans! I have a great staff here at St. Elizabeth’s who have helped me bring back the videos of the homilies that get posted here. As always, there is more in the actual homily than in the text. Here it is..
You don’t see a lot of leprosy these days. With better hygiene and the introduction of sulfate medications in the 1960’s, Hansen’s disease has largely been eliminated as a physical and social scourge. Not so in the time of Jesus. Hansen’s disease was at once a medical, social and religious curse. If someone was so afflicted, it was understood either they or one of their ancestors had sinned gravely. Because it seemed to be spread by physical contact, they were cast out of the community, having to live outside the town or village. If they moved about, they had to wear a bell and call out “Unclean! Unclean!” so that others could avoid them. Worst of all, they were not only seen as physically unclean, but also ritually unclean. They could not worship with the community, they could not enter the synagogue or temple, or do anything that could make them righteous before God. In short, they were damned here and in the afterlife.
This is one of the reasons why Naaman the Hittite asked for two mule-loads full of dirt on which to offer sacrifice to the God of the Hebrews why Jesus told the ten lepers in today’s gospel to go show themselves to the priests. He is not just healing them of a horribly disfiguring disease, but more importantly he is restoring them to the worshipping community and by removing the curse and the ritual impurity that came with it.
No wonder they were grateful.
If you think about it, healing of the lepers by Jesus is a good analogy of what happens to us when he forgives our sins, especially in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While sin does not physically disfigure us, it does horrible things to our spiritual well-being. The longer we remain in sin, the more grotesque and disfigured our soul becomes. In a similar way, we become more and more separated from the means of grace and the community of believers.
Thanks be to God, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Christ has given us the meant to approach him and cry out, “Lord Jesus! Have pity of me, a sinner!” In the presence of the priest, we are healed and our sins forgiven and restored to full communion with Christ and with one another. How can we not return to Christ to give thanks in the Eucharist?
May we have the humility and the grace to approach Christ, to ask for healing and to rejoice in the gift of our salvation.