Oct 22 Thu
Can mortal sin be compared to leprosy?
On one of his journeys, a leper approached Jesus and prostrated himself on the ground before him.
Lepers had to keep away from other people for fear of spreading the disease.
Furthermore, they were banned from all inhabited places once they were legally declared impure. They were obliged to have their heads bare and their clothes torn, and when going along a road, they had to announce their presence from afar.
Even their own families fled from them. These poor sick people had often seen the horror and fear on the face of anyone who encountered them. That terrible disease, it was thought, was a punishment for their sins.
The leper prostrated himself before Jesus, gazed up at him, and showed him the advanced state of his illness. He just said, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean."
Just that:
- “If you will, you can."
This was his entire prayer. His faith was manifested in these words: “You can."
He barely used words. He only displayed his misfortune.
Jesus could have cured the leper from a distance, as He had done before, but He wanted to touch his diseased flesh.
Jesus looked at the leper with affection, with a gentle expression full of compassion. Then Jesus extended his hand and touched him.
Perhaps the text means that He hugged him or raised him with his hands, since the leper was kneeling at Jesus' feet. How grateful the sick man would have been for that gesture. And then Jesus said: “I will; be clean."
Immediately the leprosy left him. The leper’s very illness had been the occasion to come closer to Christ.
He would never forget it. Perhaps he gave thanks for it. The Lord asked the leper not to tell anyone, but how could he keep quiet? His happiness overflowed uncontrollably from his soul, and he just had to share it with the whole world.
Having cured him, Jesus sent him to the priest to have it certified that he had been healed, and so enabled him to return to a normal life.
The ancient Fathers of the Church saw in leprosy the depiction of sin, with its ugliness and repugnant character, and with the separation from everyone else that it causes. Sin, even venial, is incomparably worse than leprosy for its ugliness, repugnance, and for its terrible effect on the sinner in this life and in the next.
“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.'
What a beautiful prayer for you to say often, with the faith of the poor leper, when there happens to you what God and you and I know! You will not have to wait long to hear the Master's reply: ‘I will; be made clean!'”
“When you have fallen or when you find yourself overwhelmed by the weight of your wretchedness, repeat with a firm hope: Lord, see how sick I am; Lord, you who died on the Cross for love of me, come and heal me.
– Be full of confidence, I insist. Keep on calling out to his most loving Heart. As He cured the leper, He will cure you."