The Healing Touch of Jesus

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde on Feb. 12 on the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington.
I began wearing eyeglasses in kindergarten, but it was only after 11 years that my parents and I discovered that the eyeglass prescription given me was imprecise. It was only after 11 years that I discovered why no one ever wanted me on their ball team. During those years, I often felt “left out,” “not belonging,” “alienated”. That kind of feeling, which probably others among us right now have experienced, gives us a hint — and only a hint — of what the leper was experiencing before his meeting with Jesus. “Not belonging,” “ostracized,” “alienated”: that was all he felt, day after day, until Jesus met him and, moved with pity, touched him.
Now, whether or not each one of us has ever felt socially alienated, each one of us has experienced another kind of alienation — a spiritual kind. When we were baptized, we became real members of the People of God, we began to belong to God’s Family, the Church. However, when we have chosen to do things our way and not God’s way, when we have abused our power to love God, others or ourselves, whenever we have sinned — and who of us has not — we have caused a kind of spiritual alienation. Depending on the seriousness of our sin, our alienation was partial or complete. In any case, the feeling of “not belonging” of being scarred and wounded, of being alienated is something each of us can own in our spiritual journey.
However, although we have caused alienation, there is One whose love remains faithful and endures despite anything we do. That Someone is God and the concrete sign of His ever-faithful never-changing love is His Only-begotten Son Jesus. The Jesus who once met the leper and, moved with pity, touched him and healed him is the same Jesus present among us right now. He is moved with pity at our self-inflicted alienation and He wants so much to touch us and to heal us, to enable us to belong once more, to empower us to come home, back to the Family, to the Church. He wants so much to touch us — but He will not do that by force. He waits for us to let Him. Like the leper, we must approach Jesus with our own request: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” And we approach Jesus, not as an isolated person, unaware of others who like us are trapped by sinfulness. No, we approach Jesus as individuals linked together in community, as Church.
We experience the healing touch of Jesus in the Sacrament of Penance. We are made clean and reconciled to both God and the Church in this sacrament. Like the leper, we approach the priest, the visible sign of Christ and the Church and express our sorrow and willingness to avoid whatever leads us to sin. In effect, we are saying to Jesus, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus speaking through the priest, assures us, “I do will it. Be made clean.” Gone is the alienation which our sins have caused; now we are reconciled; we have come home to the Lord and to the Church. We experience an inner sense of joy and peace. We feel strengthened to be faithful to our resolve to avoid the occasions of sin and, instead, to follow Christ more closely. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “‘The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God’s grace and joining us with him in an intimate friendship.’ … For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with contrite heart and religious disposition, reconciliation ‘is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation’ (No. 1468). This sacrament reconciles us with the Church. Sin damages or even breaks fraternal communion. The sacrament of Penance repairs or restores it. In this sense, it does not simply heal the one restored to ecclesial communion, but has also a revitalizing effect on the life of the Church which suffered from the sin of one of her members” (No.1469).

We experience the healing touch of Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist. As we take part in the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and receive Jesus Himself in holy Communion under the signs of bread and wine, His life is deepened with us and not only are we healed from the effects of our past sinfulness, but we are also strengthened to imitate Christ in His obedient response to God’s Will. Again, the Catechism is instructive. “Holy Communion separates us from sin. The body of Christ we receive in Holy Communion is ‘given for us’ and the blood we drink ‘shed for the many for the forgiveness of sins’. For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins … ” (No. 1393).
Yes, we have experienced alienation like the leper when we have sinned. But, the Lord Jesus keeps calling us back to Him, inviting us to receive His healing touch because His heart is moved with pity for us. Let us then go to Him and to the Church in the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist. Let us relive the scene in today’s Gospel. “If you wish, you can make me clean.” “I do will it. Be made clean.”
With the healing power of Jesus at work in us, we, like the leper, can return to the Family of the Church, restored and made clean. And like the leper, we can proclaim with our lives everywhere the healing mercy of Jesus! Amen.

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