6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The first reading from Leviticus reminds us of the difficult life lepers had due to their disease.  Once the priest had seen the leprosy, life was not the same.  No doubt the hardest part was the hopelessness of being without family and friends.  Having to warn others of one’s presence in what one wore and having to call oneself unclean must have been painful. 

Yet, at the end of the first chapter of Mark’s gospel, we see a leper who has hope because of his belief in Jesus.  He goes before the One he knows has the ability to make him clean and he humbles himself in both posture and language.  And he is not disappointed, for Jesus has pity on him, reaches out and touches him, and makes him clean.  Sent off to see the priest to make his new life official, he tells everyone about what has happened to him.  Even without his words, it would have been evident that life was now good and there was reason to be joyful and at peace.

The Jewish priest was the one who saw the leprosy and called it what it was and explained what it meant.  And at the other end, he was the one who, after examining the person, declared that he was free of the disease.  The priest would explain the necessary sacrifices to be made before rejoining the community in prayer and its daily life.

In a few days we enter into Lent when we again look within ourselves for all that needs cleansing.  Like the leper in today’s gospel, at some point during the holy season,we will approach Jesus in humility and hope and trust in order to be healed and made whole in the Sacrament of Confession.  Just as the Jewish priest had two functions, so too the Catholic priest both hears the sins cause spiritual decay and eventually death, if left untreated, and then, taking the place of Jesus, the he mediates the healing touch of Christ with the prayer of absolution.  We sinners are made whole, offer a sacrifice of some penance and once again rejoin the community and the life of the faithful as free as we were on the day of our baptism.

In an unrelated, yet relevant way, Paul in the second reading offers a second Lenten practice that is simple but powerful.  We ought to rededicate ourselves to imitate the Lord in our lives.  We know Him through the Scriptures, but we know Jesus in others ways as well.  One of the best is the one Paul offered to the Corinthian Christians, namely, imitating others who are imitating the Lord.  Jesus shines forth in others, especially when they are being patient and kind, courageous and faithful.  None of us needs to look far to see people worthy of imitation.  Reading the lives and writings of the saints is also a way to learn how to imitate others who imitated Christ.

Like the leper we will seek out Jesus this Lent and humble ourselves before Him.  We need healing and can find that in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  That will help us grow in holiness, as will imitating the holy ones who are in our lives and in the history of the Church.  The Holy Spirit will lead us into the ways of holiness.  Let us quiet ourselves and listen for the Spirit’s gentle words, and then step out in faith, as the leper did.