The encounter of Jesus and the man with leprosy, is an encounter of two courageous men. Both are breaking norms and even laws as regards in dealing with leprosy. It is expected on the part of the man with leprosy, not to mingle with anyone. By virtue of his sickness, he has cut all relationships with everyone. He is isolated from family, friends, and from his community. He is ostracized and marginalized. And he must make his dwelling outside the camp, for fear of contaminating the clean and holy people. When he walks about in the streets inhabited with people, he must shout “Unclean! Unclean!”. With such a situation, he is practically dead in the face of the other people. Worst, he cannot join the community in prayer inside the synagogue, for he is unclean. Thus, his relationship with God, is also detached.

But in the gospel reading, we see a leprous man walking near Jesus. He was not shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” Rather, he was pleading for healing. “If you will it, you can make me clean.” He was giving Jesus the opportunity to heal him, or not. Kneeling in front of Jesus, he put all his life’s weight, aspirations, and future to Jesus. He threw himself to the care of Jesus, believing that Jesus can do something for him.

On His end, Jesus broke protocols, too. Instead of reprimanding the leprous man, His heart was moved with pity and compassion. He knew instructions as regards to dealing with leprosy, but His love and mercy got the better of Him. He stretched out His arm toward the man; He was not afraid of contamination. Furthermore, He even touched the man saying, “I do will it! Be made clean!”

Notice the actions of Jesus. He is not afraid of the man’s leprosy. Instead of being contaminated by the dreaded disease, He flowed love, compassion and healing. He enveloped the leprous man with God's mercy and healing.

My dear brothers and sisters, let us learn a lesson from the leprous man. No matter how difficult his life was, he was feeling ostracized by many people, and also isolated by his family and friends. He even cut-off his relationship with God. He was able to muster all of his courage to go near Jesus and to plead for understanding and healing. And the Lord did not disappoint him.

We are like the leprous man in many ways. We carry much burden on our shoulders, and our hearts. We find our lives wallowing in darkness because of hopelessness. We feel so alone because friends are no longer caring and are out of our reach. And God is silent, very far, and watching us from a distance. My brothers and sisters, this must be the time to go near Jesus. We must bend our knees and plead to Him to unburden us from life's difficulties and problems, to cleanse us from our impurities and our sinfulness. “Make us whole again! Make us clean!”.

One day, I had a chance to spend some time for very light conversation with someone. During our talk, we discussed the season of Lent. He was telling me that he doesn’t like much of the season, because it is the commemoration of the death of Jesus. Compounded with that, is the invitation of the Church to repent and be converted. Thus, he was thinking, when will he have the courage to go and speak to a priest, confess his sins and be forgiven and cleansed. For it is always very difficult for him to approach the sacrament of confession, because of fear and shame.

My dear brothers and sisters, our Lord is waiting for us to throw all of our darkness, sinfulness and burdens to Him. Let us be assured and comforted that He will stretch out His arm and touch us, giving us healing and forgiveness. And just like the man healed from his leprosy, we will not be able to contain all of our happiness and delight. And with a grateful heart, we will go proclaiming how wonderful our God is, wanting others to experience what we have experienced.

My dear brothers and sisters, this coming Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, will usher in the season of Lent. May we be able to go to Him, seeking His mercy and forgiveness in the sacrament of confession, in order to have a significant, meaningful celebration of Lent.

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HEAL ME LORD IF YOU WANT. This was the cry of the leper who, recognizing his illness, bends his knees in supplication and reverence before Jesus with firm purpose of getting purified because he knew that Jesus has the power to heal.

When it comes to disease, the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, often speaks about the leprosy problem. Lepers were excluded. And the word means a skin disease that can cover different types of diseases. When the filth of leprosy was discovered, laws in great extent were applied to get rid of it. Lepers were publicly identified and removed from the congregation so as not to contaminate others.

The leper who approaches Jesus asks for his purification and not for his healing. Mark highlights the human feeling of compassion that Jesus feels for the leper in his exclusion. Jesus violates the law by touching the leper and frees him from his leprosy and impurity. He sends the man, already purified, to the priest as a testimony against the religious power that claimed for itself the right to purify. The action of Jesus means two things: liberation on the part of the leper and breaking the law on the part of Jesus.

God used physical things, such as illness, hygiene issues or differences to teach spiritual principles. The gesture of healing of the leper reveals Jesus' commitment not to simple healing but to the social inclusion of the marginalized. The leper represents the excluded and marginalized by the unloving and uncompassionate society. The laws on leprosy do not apply today but the principles we learn from them are very important to us. There are still many lepers among us today. Marginalized people, excluded either by society or by their families. Scorned by their own: husband, wife, parents or children.

To whom do we relate ourselves, to the leper or the one who excluding them? If we can relate more on the experience of the leper, then we turn our gaze to Jesus, raise our voice and shout, “Lord if you want, you can heal me.” If we can relate better to the persons who excluded them, our invitation today is to follow the example of Jesus. We should become channels of acceptance, of compassion, of empathy and of love to the lost, the least and the last brothers and sisters in our society.