Sunday, February 11, 2024

SIXTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

(Leviticus 13:1-2.44-46; I Corinthians 10:31-11:1: Mark 1:40-45)

The Book of Leviticus is all about holiness. The Israelites feel a particular call from God to be holy. Leviticus can be described as a manual for fulfilling that vocation. Particularly important to being holy is purity. Uncleanness is associated with illness, bad morals, and impiety. Therefore, the Jews in Jesus' time keep themselves from leprosy, the disease that deteriorates the skin.

The poor lepers have to isolate themselves from other people, even though they may have done nothing wrong! This outrage is mandated because the good of the community takes priority over the psychological good of the patient. The pandemic behind us now, we have an idea of how lepers feel. In many cases, being isolated is not just being alone, bored, and frustrated because you cannot fulfill your responsibilities. Isolation often includes feeling pain and fearing that maybe you're never going to recover. In the case of leprosy, confinement is not limited to four days or a week. Rather, it is the prospect that you will spend years separated from your loved ones.

In fact, it wasn't just lepers who suffered from isolation in the Bible. Women also have to separate themselves after giving birth, just as those who work with dead animals do. True, these can be purified with water ablutions, but this is also a nuisance.

In the gospel Jesus shows compassion to the leper. When he presents himself to Jesus and expresses faith in him, Jesus is not afraid to touch him. More than that, he heals him of his disease. Jesus has come to defeat evil in all its forms. He is not going to allow this man to continue suffering either disease or isolation.

Jesus wants to do the same with us. He wants to alleviate our illnesses, whether physical or spiritual, by putting us in contact with himself. Jesus’ body remains on earth in the form of the community of faith, the church.  That is all of us. That is why we have Lent before us now.  It is the great season of communal penance. We are to pray for, make sacrifices for, and help one another.

What disease do we have?  Is it eating compulsively? We now have forty days that invite us to stop taking seconds, sweets, and snacks. Are we inclined to wander when we pray? Here is a time reserved for coming to church during the week to ask God’s mercy in the Stations of the Cross or at mass. Do we feel guilty about always seeking our own good and not helping the needy? Now we have a stretch of seven weeks reserved to care for the less fortunate. With these acts of love we purify ourselves from our sins while we ease the burdens of people in need.

Lent is difficult for us because sin has warped our thinking. Sin makes us think that our vices are not so bad or, at least, they are necessary for us to survive. It is a lie, and now we have forty days to show that with the help of grace we can overcome bad habits. Penance is necessary if we are to fulfill our vocation. As the Israelites in the desert, we are called to be holy, cleansed of sin, and charitable towards others. We are called to be disciples of Jesus who shows compassion to the leper.

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Thursday, January 14, 2021

 Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)

Most have heard that leprosy in the Bible is not to be equated with modern, disastrous leprosy.  In Scripture leprosy is a mild, infectious skin ailment.  Yet lepers in Scripture are isolated and their officially attested before reintegration.  Interestingly, Jesus does not fear confronting the disease in today’s gospel.

Mark describes Jesus as fearless as the leper imposes himself on him.  The leper comes up to him.  Jesus then touches the leper to remedy his infection.  Now Jesus is contaminated while the leper is cured.  Mark does not say that Jesus has contracted the disease, but he does note that Jesus becomes isolated.  News of the cure confines him to “deserted places.”  But the people don’t care.  More cogent than the need to avoid contamination is their desire to see this divine messenger. 

This past year has been a long lesson on infectious diseases and how to prevent their spreading.  We know that we should keep apart from anyone with whom we do not live.  Jesus’ touching the leper should not move us to defy this convention.  But it should inspire us to go to Jesus with our ailments.  Mentally of physically troubled, we will find in Jesus a resolution to our problem.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Memorial of Saint Anthony, abbot

(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)

The gospel today shows Jesus changing places with the leper.  He is an insider – of good Jewish lineage and righteous according to the Law.  He can go anywhere in Israel that he pleases.  Yet he freely becomes an outsider.  When he heals the leper, his fame becomes so great that he cannot go anywhere without being mobbed.  Meanwhile the leper, who cannot mingle with people because of his disease, becomes an insider.  After Jesus touches him, he is free to enter city and village.

We can see a similar dynamic in the story of St. Anthony, the monk.  He was born an insider with plenty of resources to do whatever he wished.  Yet he chose to recluse himself in a desert hovel thereby making himself an outsider.  He was giving witness to Christ so that those excluded by inordinate self-love from the promises of Christ might take note and reform.  They would then become insiders of God’s family.

We are called to give similar witness.  We do not have to go into the desert, but we must make some sacrifice of self for the benefit of others.  The sacrifice certainly includes paying less attention to our own needs and more to those of others.  We might listen to others more than speak to them.  Or we might make a habit of complimenting those who lack self-confidence.  In these simple ways we enable others to become insiders of God’s family.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)

Kent Brantley is the American missionary-doctor who contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients in Africa. He survived but had to spend almost three weeks in isolation to treat the disease.  Much like Jesus in today’s gospel, Dr. Brantley became an untouchable in caring for untouchables.

The passage reflects dramatically the Christian message. Jesus, the Son of God, became human to humans from deadly sinfulness.  In the process he delivers himself up to death.  This trajectory is anticipated in the gospel reading.  Jesus cures a leper by touching him.  Whether or not he contracts the disease, he goes into isolation as commanded by the Mosaic Law.  But this retreat does not stop people from flocking to him with their problems.

 We need not hesitate to go to Jesus as well.  He is here to help us.  Countless testimonies have been given of how he has cured diseases.  His teaching guides us to a just and honorable life. Most significantly, Jesus has won for us the Father’s favor.  He has gained special privileges so that we have access to eternal life.

Thursday, January14, 2016

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 4:1-11; Mark 1:40-45)

Being seriously sick creates a series of difficulties.  The sick person is not sure that she will ever feel well again.  She also likely worries about resources – will she have enough money to pay doctors, purchase medicines, keep up with house and car payments, buy food, etcetera?  Consideration of the question of death cannot be far from the person’s attention either.  And then the sick person feels isolated, cut off from friends and neighbors.  Such challenges are felt by the leper today as he meets Jesus in the wilderness.

The leper recognizes that he is in a sorry state.  This is an important realization as one goes before the Lord.  No one is perfect.  Before God imperfections are magnified like those of weekend runners before Olympic marathoners.  The leper also has the right words to say: “’If you wish, you can make me clean.’”  God has the power to help him if God judges that a cure is in order.  Jesus, of course, does wish him well and heals the leper of his disease.  His worries are over, he is free now to rejoin society.

We may not be sick today.  But we have debilities, worries, and responsibilities that seem greater than our capacity.  We too are wise to go humbly to the Lord in our need.  Our prayer need not be more involved than the one-liner of the leper: “Lord, if you wish, you can help me.”  We should find God more than ready to come to our assistance.

Homilette for Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 3:7-14; Mark 1:40-45)

Fifty years or so ago, a journalist named John Howard Griffin performed a shocking social experiment. He dyed his skin black and toured the South to learn first hand how African-Americans there experience everyday. Predictably, he had trouble using public restrooms. In general, wherever white men had easy access, he was treated with suspicion. Eventually Griffin wrote an account of his travails which helped soften white resistance to the American civil rights movement.

We might say that Griffin was an insider who made himself an outsider so that outsiders might become insiders. Similar reversals take place in the gospel today. After Jesus cures the leper, his fame as a healer spreads so widely that he cannot any town without being besieged by needy petitioners. He is the insider who becomes an outsider for the sake of others. Meanwhile, the cured leper who by law had to remain outside populated areas now can enter any town freely.

Many people when contemplating a good deed wonder if they are not getting into an undesirable situation. They may that fear that sending a check to one charity will reap a windfall of other requests. Or they may ask themselves, if they help a person with rent one month, would the person return for the same help frequently? Jesus shows us today that we must not allow fear to overcome the prompting of our hearts to assist others. Rather like him we do the good we can and trust that God will deliver us from any unpleasant repercussions.

Homilette for January 17, 2008

Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Anthony, abbot

(Mark 1:40-45)

Fifty years or so ago, a journalist named John Howard Griffin performed a shocking social experiment. He had his skin dyed black and toured the South to see how people would treat him. Predictably, he had trouble finding a public restroom that he could use. In general, wherever white men had easy access, he was treated with suspicion. We might say that the insider became an outsider. Eventually, Griffin published the account of his travails in the book Black Like Me which helped soften white resistance to the American civil rights movement.

In the gospel today we witness a similar event and its reverse. After Jesus cures the leper, his fame as a healer spreads so widely that he cannot any town without being overwhelmed with petitions for healing. He is the insider who becomes an outsider. Ironically, the cured leper who by law had to remain outside populated areas but now can enter any town freely. Thus, the outsider becomes an insider.

St. Anthony takes after Christ in making himself an outsider. He left his family and community to become a hermit in the desert. In a sense this is the vocation of all Christians. We should never get too comfortable in the world. Its many distortions may lure us into sin. Rather, we make ourselves outsiders by an intentional option to love all and to find our treasure in the legacy of Christ.