by Fr. Tommy Lane
The leper in the Gospel (Mark 1:40-45) left
civilization because of his illness. He had no choice but to leave his
town or village and warn people of his condition if they came near
him. When Moses’ sister Miriam got leprosy, she is described by the
Book of Numbers (12:12) “as one dead,” and she received her leprosy
as a punishment for rebelling against Moses. As soon as the leper in
the Gospel was diagnosed with his illness, it was as if he had died
and we can imagine some would have wondered what sin he had
committed. He could no longer live with his family. He could no
longer worship in his local synagogue or go to the temple. But in
the midst of this terrible pain and suffering he wisely decided to
approach Jesus. We are not sure how he heard about Jesus but he had
faith in Jesus to help him. He made a decision to go to Jesus and
that was the beginning of the turnaround in his life. Had he not
gone to Jesus, he would have remained in his pitiable condition and
continued to deteriorate. Going to Jesus changed everything in his
life.
When he met Jesus he had a conversation with
Jesus, “if you wish, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40) As a result
of this conversation, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him
and healed him. So now we see a second necessary element in the
turnaround in his life. The first was his decision to go to Jesus
and the second was his conversation with Jesus. His conversation
with Jesus was an admission that his life was in a mess, “if you
wish, you can make me clean.” Admitting his need before Jesus
brought him healing and wholeness. That happens to us also every
time we have a conversation with Jesus, every time we pray. Our
prayer is our conversation with Jesus when he stretches out his hand
to touch us and bring us new life. Many of you have read spiritual
books by Jacques Philippe and in Thirsting
for Prayer wrote,
It is prayer that will give birth to all
the renewals, healings, deep and fruitful transformations we all
want for society today. This world of ours is very sick, and only
contact with heaven will be able to cure it. The most useful thing
for the Church to do today is to give people a thirst for prayer and
teach them to pray.
(Thirsting
for Prayer Kindle Location 81)
Pope St. John Paul II in
Novo millennio ineunte said that Christian communities must
become genuine schools of prayer (§33)
and that education in prayer should become in some way a key-point
of all pastoral planning (§34).This
morning’s Gospel is an ideal Gospel passage to guide people in
prayer in parish groups. I have used it in many parish groups and it
is always a big hit. I invite the people to take the place of the
leper, to go before Jesus and I guide them having a conversation with
Jesus. Using a Gospel passage like this helps people to enter into
prayer with Jesus and be renewed.
The leper went from being as one dead to being
able to live with his family again and participate in society
because he made a decision to go to Jesus and have a conversation
with Jesus. May the Lord grant us the grace to go to him every day
and have a conversation in prayer with him.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2019
This homily was delivered in Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, Maryland.