Dear friends in Jesus Christ,

Today, our Mother Church continues to remind us that Jesus is a compassionate and loving God to all who approach Him with open minds and hearts. So, he is willing to do incredible acts to save us. Hence, the Church calls us to make Jesus our true friend by caring for the sick. Our first reading and Gospel have a lot in common and are interconnected. Both of them refer to the hopeless situation caused by leprosy. In Jesus’ time, leprosy was a dreaded disease. Contracting leprosy was a matter of life and death. Though it was a physical sickness, according to Jewish religious beliefs leprosy was broadly associated with sin. That is, leprosy was seen as a punishment for a sin committed by its victim. Hence, the immediate consequence of suffering from leprosy was that the patient automatically became an outcast and was isolated. “As long as the disease lasts, the patient must live apart.” This is because it was believed that the person would contaminate others. Yet, the truth is that apart from physical leprosy, because of our sins we are all lepers and outcasts. However, Christ touches and heals us through his mercy.

In the second reading, Paul pleads with us: “Take me as your model as I take Christ.” He presents himself to us as a model of sacrifice and care. Being a model means being close to people, especially in their weakness, sickness, and ensuring that they do not feel rejected. He is a model who rejects the gospel of exclusion, favouritism, racial segregation, profiling, stigmatisation of the sick or anyone at all.  He is not a model who wishes the death of the sick for his comfort. Instead, He is a model of care, tenderness, and love for them. This is why Paul says: “I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not anxious of my advantage, but for the advantage of everybody, so that they may be saved.” This is precisely 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 healed a leper. Instead of avoiding or stigmatising the leper, he touched and healed him. The humble petition of the leper touched him: “If you want, you can cure me.” As a compassionate Saviour and Master, Jesus responded with both words and actions: “Yes, I want you to be cured!”  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, stigmatise, and isolate the leper. On the contrary, He communicated the love and mercy of God in signs that speak more than words.  How should we treat the sick, the weak, the poor, and those rejected by society? We must show them mercy and help them as Jesus did. Through his mercy and compassion, Jesus is always ready to free us from whatever makes us unclean. Amen