God Never Tires of Forgiving

02-14-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Arul Doss

Dear People of God,

This is the Sunday before Ash Wednesday and lent season. On this six ordinary Sunday, the readings are reminding us that Jesus is the friend of us all. So, He is willing to do the unimaginable in order to save us. Hence, our Church calls us to make Jesus our role model by caring for the sick and weak.

Our first reading as well as gospel reading peak about the hopeless situation caused by leprosy. Today we have a treatment for leprosy. But in the time of Leviticus and in the time of Jesus Christ, there was no know treatment. Because the causes of the disease were not known. The person with leprosy was exiled from “healthy” human society.

No one would want to be a leper, cut off from one’s own family and friends and spurned by everyone because of fear of contagion. The immediate consequence of suffering from leprosy was that the patient automatically becomes an outcast. As long as the disease lasts, he must live apart. Sadly, according to the law, the victim must identify and stigmatize himself by announcing: ‘unclean, unclean.”

In the second reading, Paul implores us: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (Cor11:1) It is a model of sacrifice and care for others. It is being close to people especially in their weakness, sickness, and ensuring that they do not feel rejected. It is a model that rejects the gospel of exclusion, favoritism, racial segregation, or stigma on the sick or anyone at all. It is a model of care, tenderness and love for them. This is why Paul says: “just as I try to please everyone in every way, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10:33). This is exactly what Christ did. He offered himself in order to deliver us from all that enslaves us. Paul replicated this with his life, and encourages us to do the same.

In the gospel, Jesus continues to heal. Today, He encountered a leper. Instead of avoiding or stigmatizing the leper, he touched and healed him. The humble petition of the leper touched him: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” (Mk 1:40) As a compassionate Savior and Master, Jesus responded with both words and action: “I do will it. Be made clean” (Mk 1:41), By healing the leper, Jesus makes a statement, that the leper was not excluded, but that he was equally destined for salvation. Jesus was different from the Levitical priests whose duty was to pronounce judgment, stigmatize and to isolate the leper. On the contrary, He communicated the love and mercy of God in signs that speak more than words.

We should we treat the sick, the weak, the poor, and those rejected by society with mercy, and help them as Jesus did. Through His mercy and compassion, Jesus is always ready to free us from whatever makes us unclean. Also, sin is seen in the early Church as a form of moral leprosy. We are invited by Jesus to become clean in baptism. The early Church had a huge struggle to come to understand how anyone baptized could return to sin. But sin is like leprosy and returns over and over until there is a completely cure. The cure for spiritual leprosy is faith in in love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Have a happy and Blessed Sunday!!

Yours in Jesus Christ,
Fr. Doss

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