Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: 10th February 2024

Christ healing the leper from Das Plenarium - Hans Schäufelein

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Facing up to Leviticus

If you have the time, might I suggest you take your Bibles and read the section from Leviticus that is omitted in our first reading, from vv. 3 to 49. I suggest this as a salutary lesson in examining the different component texts in our scriptures, and how this passage, which does not deal with Hansen's Disease, which is our term for leprosy, details various types of infection and what they mean in the context of that community. It is good to face up to this type of passage, as it reminds us that the gift of scripture is not invariable in its inner meanings, and that some parts are simply directives preserved as a record, not Divine commands or sublime communications from the Holy One.

If we take time to study, mark and read our scriptures we might learn that those who who use texts from the OT to justify their prejudice, might need to examine their conscience. Look at this phrase at the end of today's reading: 'Being unclean, that individual shall dwell apart, taking up residence outside the camp'. ( Lev 1: 49)

Exclusion may be isolation in a medical sense to prevent cross infection, but in another way it is one of those patterns of behaviour all cultures and peoples have adopted to exclude the unwanted. What we fear, or dislike, or do not understand we often make a stranger to us!

Embrace reflective humility

It is in a sense of reflective humility that we need to receive our scriptures, and as we move into Lent, this reading from Leviticus might wake us up to several facts:

Just how far we have also progressed in the medical sciences, to recognise and rejoice in how much we have developed in medicine, psychology, and psychiatry, to see that what was once thought demonic possession or divine punishment is something else, and often can be treated with care and gentleness. However I am not suggesting we totally divorce sickness from our religious faith, nor stop praying and working for solutions to problems, our health is very much interconnected with our general well being, including things of the spirit. That ancient latin phrase, 'mens sana corpore sano', 'a healthy mind in a healthy body' still remains very true for us today. The strictures of Leviticus about those destined to be pronounced clean or unclean by the priests forms a lot of background to Jesus' ministry of reaching out to those 'outside the camp'.

Jesus restores us

In today's gospel he is healing a leper, but it is the sheer practicality of that ministry which is striking. Always responding to those who call on him, Jesus heals the leper but tells him to go and show himself to the priests as the `Law requires, this so that he might be legally and publicly restored back to his place in the community, free from stigma.

For Jesus it is not simply the healing of illness that matters, but what goes with it, the command to others to love God and one's neighbour, to care for the sick and poor. His missional command to us is to reach out to those 'outside the camp' and to restore to them their dignity and place as valued members of the community.

In this sense our second reading gives us the direction we need to take in several words of direct simplicity: 'So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offence, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God'. (I Cor 10:31,32)

Might we use these words as one method of keeping a joyful Lenten observance? For after all fasting is not simply about food but about the inner passions, abstinence is not simply the reduction or denial of nourishment we enjoy, but also of tempering the negative things we let loose in our lives? How many people do we keep or put 'outside the camp'? Perhaps a little abstention from our own and others prejudices might be a very good thing.

The message of Lourdes

But a last thought. The feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is on February 11th, so I connected this gospel and the first reading as a palimpsest of what Lourdes has become for the Church, but particularly in this place of Our Lady, St Mary Mother of Jesus, it is those outside the camp, the sick and suffering, who are gladly welcomed and come for healing, a place where human intervention and divine love combine to heal the hurts and hearts of humankind. Bernadette's message was extremely simple, and at one point in the apparitions, incomprehensible to herself and others in the way she acted. But if we remind ourselves that the things she did, anointing her face and body with dirt and clay, spittle, washing in water, drinking from spring wells are all biblical images of healing and conversion, her message is of conversion to the mercy and heart of love and her greater message was that this healing place also occurred wherever we , the Church gathers. May the words of our scriptures today waken our conscience and help us to begin a good Lent, welcoming in the name of Christ all those we and others have cast out of the camp! Amen

Lectio Divina

Pope Francis - General audience - 22 June 2016

"Lord, if you will, you can make me clean" (Lk 5:12) is the request that we heard addressed to Jesus by a leper. This man did not ask only to be healed, but to be "made clean", that is, wholly restored, in body and in heart. Indeed, leprosy was considered a form of a curse of God, of profound uncleanliness. A leper had to stay away from everyone; he could not access the temple nor any divine service. Far from God and far from men. These people lived a sad life!

Despite this fact, that leper did not resign himself to the disease nor to the dispositions that made him an excluded man. In order to reach Jesus, he was not afraid to break the law and enter the city - something he should not have done, it was prohibited - and when he found Jesus, the man "fell on his face and besought him, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean'" (v. 12). All that is done and said by this man, who was considered unclean, is an expression of his faith! He recognizes Jesus' power: he is certain that Jesus has the power to heal him and that all depends on His will. This faith is the force that allows him to break every convention and seek the encounter with Jesus and, kneeling before Him, he calls Him "Lord". The supplication of the leper demonstrates that when we present ourselves to Jesus it is not necessary to make long speeches. A few words are enough, provided that they are accompanied by complete trust in his omnipotence and in his goodness.

The hidden message of Lourdes

From the Official text of the website: www.lourdes-france.com/en/the-message-of-lourdes/

In spite of her poverty, her illness and her lack of education, Bernadette was always deeply happy. That is the Kingdom of God, the world of true Love. During the first seven apparitions, Bernadette's face always radiated joy, happiness and light. However between the eight and twelfth apparitions, everything changed: Bernadette's face became harsh, sad, and sorrowful, and above all she performed incomprehensible gestures… She moved on her knees to the back of the Grotto. She kissed the dirty repulsive ground of the Grotto. She ate some bitter plants. She scraped the ground three times trying to drink the muddy water at the back of the Grotto. She tried to drink a little and then throwing it away, she took mud in her hands and smeared it on her face. Then the young girl turned to the crowd. They all said: "She's mad!" During these four Apparitions, Bernadette performed the same gestures. What did all this mean? Nobody understood! Nonetheless, here we are at the heart of the "Message of Lourdes".

Biblical dimension of the apparitions

These actions are biblical actions. Bernadette acts out the Incarnation, the Passion and the death of Christ. Moving on her knees to the back of the Grotto: this action recalls the Incarnation, God humbles himself to become human. Eating bitter herbs at the back of the Grotto recalls the Jewish tradition found in the ancient texts. Smearing her face with mud: when the prophet Isaiah speaks to us about Christ, he depicts Him as "the suffering servant".

The Grotto hides an immeasurable treasure

During the ninth apparition, "the Lady" asked Bernadette to scrape the soil, saying to her: "Go to the spring, drink of it and wash yourself there". By these actions, the mystery of the heart of Jesus is revealed for us: "A soldier pierced his heart with his lance and there immediately flowed out blood and water." The herbs and the mud represent the heart of man wounded by sin. However, in the deepest recesses of that heart, there lies the very life of God signified by the Spring. Bernadette is asked: "Did the 'Lady' say anything to you?" She replied: "Yes, from time to time, She said: "Penance, penance, penance. Pray for sinners". By "Penance", one must understand "conversion". For the Church, conversion consists of turning one's heart towards God and towards our brothers and sisters, as Christ taught us.

During the thirteenth Apparition, Mary said to Bernadette: "Go, tell the priests and that people should come here in procession and to build a chapel here." "Come here in procession" means accompanying our brothers and sisters in this life. "Build a chapel here." In Lourdes, chapels were built to accommodate the crowds of pilgrims. The chapel is the "Church" that we ought to build where we are.

After healing the leper, Jesus commands him not to speak of this to anyone, but tells him: "go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to the people" (Lk 5:14). This disposition of Jesus demonstrates at least three things. First: the grace that acts in us does not seek sensationalism. Usually it is moved with discretion and without clamour. To treat our wounds and guide us on the path of holiness it works by patiently modelling our heart on the Heart of the Lord, so as to increasingly assume his thoughts and feelings. Second: by making the priest officially verify the healing and by celebrating an expiatory sacrifice, the leper is readmitted to the community of believers and to social life. His reintegration completes the healing. As he himself had supplicated, now he is completely made clean. Lastly, by presenting himself to the priests, the leper bears witness to them regarding Jesus and his messianic authority. The power of compassion with which Jesus healed the leper led this man's faith to open itself to the mission. He was excluded, now he is one of us.

Let us consider ourselves, our miseries.... Each has his own. Let us think sincerely. How often we cover them with the hypocrisy of "good manners". And precisely then it is necessary to be alone, to kneel before God and pray: "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean!". Do it, do it before going to bed, every evening. Now together let us say this beautiful prayer: "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean!"