Events in Our Daily Lives and God's Word

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the HERALD
(From the Issue of Feb. 20, 2003)

Following are Bishop Paul S. Loverde’s reflections on the Scriptures for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Feb. 16, 2003.

Each time you and I reflect on the Word of God, we are being invited to apply His life-giving word to the circumstances and events in our daily lives. Both the first reading from the Book of Leviticus (13:1- 2, 44 - 46) and the third reading from the Gospel of St. Mark (1:40 - 45) focus on leprosy. In the Old Testament, anyone afflicted with leprosy was declared unclean and was isolated from the community. Such a person could not be touched because that gesture would render the person touching the leper ritually unclean and prevent him/her from taking part in worship. However, Jesus, "moved with pity," stretches out His hand and touches the leper, who was immediately cured.

How do these two scripture passages relate to us? Leprosy caused alienation; Jesus, by His touch, remove the cause of alienation and, thus, effected a cure, which left the former leper free of his illness and strong in health. Do we not experience alienation? Is not Jesus the only one who can free us and strengthen us?

Yes, we experience alienation when we sin. The reading from Leviticus provides us with a deep insight into the power of sin in an individual life. Sin, especially mortal sin, separates us from our true selves, from the community of faith to which we belong and from God Himself. As we consider the uncertain times in which we live, we need to ask ourselves whether we are prepared to meet the Lord. Is there sin in our lives that needs to be confessed? Is God the center of our lives, our decisions and our actions? Are we at peace with ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors and our friends? If not, this is an acceptable time to remedy that. In the Gospel passage, as we mentioned earlier, a leper approaches Jesus and asks Him for a healing. The leper humbly kneels before Jesus and says: "If you wish, you can make me clean." And Jesus, whose tenderness and love for us comes through so clearly in this particular reading, replies: "I do will it. Be made clean." This is what happens when we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Penance. We come humbly to the Lord and confess our sins. Jesus looks so lovingly upon us and forgives us our trespasses and sends us on our way, clean and filled with His life and love.

We also experience alienation through fear. Many of us are experiencing anxiety and fear over the many situations in our world which threaten to spiral out of control. Two weeks ago, our nation watched in shock as we lost a second space shuttle, reminding us that, while dreams are possible, life is so fragile. Added to that, in our world today there are armed conflicts raging in Africa and Israel, and the drums of war are getting louder in Iraq and North Korea. Furthermore, this past week our government raised the terror alert, signaling that there could be threats against our own city and nation. These events increase our anxiety and cause us to fear for our safety and that of our loved ones and friends. Fear and anxiety can be like leprosy, which, we read in our first reading, caused those who suffered from it to be isolated from the community. Many people ask how we should react to the fear caused by these renewed terrorist alerts and threats. My advice is we must allow ourselves to be touched by Jesus Christ, the one Savior of the world.

Yes, we must allow our lives to be touched and transformed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ. In this time of anxiety, we should turn our hearts to God through daily prayer, regular celebrations of the Sacrament of Penance and increased participation in the Holy Mass. These are three concrete ways in which the Lord touches us, enters into our lives, listens to us, walks with us and guides us in the ways in which we should go.

Moreover, we must resist the feeling of alienation by reaching out and gathering with family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow students. Through this mutual support, we can strengthen one another and walk together in faith despite our fear and anxiety.

Jesus touched the leper and he was cured. Gone was his alienation from the community and restored was his health and strength. We must allow Jesus to touch us through prayer and the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist. By allowing Jesus Christ to touch us, we can turn our anxiety into hope and our fears into confidence. His touch restores within us His love, which is life-giving. As when we experience His healing touch, we will be filled with love, and perfect love casts out fear.

Copyright ©2003 Arlington Catholic Herald.  All rights reserved.