The scripture readings for this reflection can be found at Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB
On Sunday, February 14, 2021 we celebrated the liturgy for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and this was the last Sunday prior to the beginning of Lent. This year Ash Wednesday is on February 17, 2021, when the holy season of Lent will officially begin. Lent is a season when we are called even more than ever to examine our hearts to try to see whatever areas of sinfulness or uncleanness remains in our hearts and lives for which we need to confess and repent and perhaps bring to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is a time for try to engage in more and hopefully deeper prayer and perhaps try to attend some weekday Masses and receive the Eucharist if we are able, or perhaps watch Mass online or on television more frequently if attending Church is prohibited because of health concerns. It is a time to obey the Lenten regulations for fasting and abstinence established by the Church and hopefully engage in some additional form of fasting or sacrifice to help us reform our lives: maybe a start of healthier eating habits that can extend beyond Lent, perhaps spending less time on FACEBOOK (my personal weakness) or other social media or the internet or spending less time watching TV or substituting religious programs for secular programs, perhaps temporarily giving up sweets or alcohol or some other treat, maybe finally giving up smoking, or maybe introducing walking or some simple form of healthy exercise that could last beyond Lent. We are also called to almsgiving, which is finding ways to give more of our time, talent and treasure to our parishes, our dioceses, private charities, and people in our lives who are in need. This could include giving money or donating clothing to organizations that help people who are homeless and/or women in crisis pregnancies such as the Sisters of Life, The Bridge to Life and Good Counsel Homes. It could also be volunteering our time and/or talent to help others within the boundaries of COVID-19 regulations.
So on this Sunday before Lent begins we see the man with leprosy come before Our LORD JESUS asking for healing. The first reading from Leviticus presents the regulations that the Jewish Law prescribed for any Israelite suspected of having leprosy. At the Saturday 4:30pm Vigil Mass Msgr. Steven spoke in his homily about the extreme isolation that people had to experience when they were diagnosed with leprosy. Unless and until they were healed--and at that time there were no antibiotics to treat leprosy as we have now--they had to spend their lives in perpetual quarantine from their families, their friends, their places of worship, their businesses, all public places and the rest of the community, spending their time only with other persons with leprosy. They could have no physical or social contact with others. They could not touch any non-leper's hand or kiss or hug their family members or friends.
In recent years the stigma of leprosy has been compared with the stigma experienced by people with HIV/AIDS, especially since both diseases have been linked, whether justly or unjustly, with some form of sin. But as Msgr. Steven spoke about the isolation--the quarantine--that people with leprosy, especially in Biblical times, have had to endure, I could not help relating this to the temporary quarantine that has to be endured by patients suffering from COVID-19, by asymptomatic people who have tested positive for COVID-19, by people who believe they have been exposed to people who have tested positive for COVID-19, and, to a lesser extent, the rest of us who had to quarantine last year and who still have to limit our contact with people, avoid touching people who are not members of our family, wear masks, avoid crowds, wash our hands and/or use hand sanitizers more frequently, and practice social distancing.
So far I have been tested twice for COVID-19 (thank the LORD I tested negative both times) because of actual or potential exposure to people who tested positive for COVID-19. The second time this was only potential but not actual contact, so I didn't need to quarantine, since none of the people with whom I was in direct contact tested positive at the Daycare center where I work one on one with a child, but the daycare was closed for two weeks because some people had tested positive. But the first time I had been in the sacristy with a priest who tested positive for COVID-19 several days later (this was back in November 2020 and the priest has since recovered, thank the LORD), and even though we were both wearing masks and only in the same room for a few minutes, we were probably about 4 feet rather than 6 feet apart and I needed to get tested. When I developed a bad toothache I was unable to go to the dentist until I got negative test results that took 6 days. During those 6 days I could not go to Mass, I could not go out to dinner, I could not go to my monthly Secular Franciscan fraternity meeting, I could not see friends, and I could not go to choir practice. Unlike the experience of a person with leprosy, my quarantine only lasted 6 days instead of a lifetime, but I still had a very minor taste of what people with leprosy experience. So maybe God is showing us in a small way how we can empathize with people who have illnesses that cause them to have enforced isolation on a larger scale for a longer period of time, including people who have serious cases of COVID-19 that require hospitalization who cannot be visited by their loved ones--especially those who die alone without the consolation of loved ones or a priest administering the Last Rites.
I have always believed that the request of the man with leprosy to the LORD JESUS is an ideal prayer. The translation currently used in the Liturgy is "iF YOU WISH, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN." Personally I prefer the older translation, which is "IF YOU WILL IT, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN." The person with leprosy apparently had heard something about the healings and miracles of Our LORD JESUS, through reports that even reached his leper colony. Since the man with leprosy literally knelt down before JESUS, and the Jewish Law is very strict about kneeling before GOD alone, he apparently had recognized and was acknowledging some Divine element in JESUS.
Like the person with leprosy we have faith in the power of Our LORD JESUS to answer our prayer requests favorably and to heal and cleanse us. Like him we also realize that GOD is sovereign and has the right and the ability to do as He chooses, and that His will is mysterious and not necessarily the same as ours, which we most likely have learned from our own experience. The man with leprosy was wise: he knew JESUS could heal and cleanse him fully, but he knew he could not presume to know what the LORD in His sovereignty would choose to do. Therefore, like him we should have full confidence that the LORD has enough love and enough power to cleanse us of any and all of our physical, psychological, spiritual and social/relational ailments and problems, but always acknowledge His sovereignty and His right to do things His way and in His time.
As Lent begins we pray the prayer of King David, the Psalm for Ash Wednesday, Psalm 51, asking the LORD to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit within us. This is a request to which Our LORD will always respond, "I DO WILL IT. BE MADE CLEAN."
No comments:
Post a Comment