Homily OT6-B Ordinary Time, Sixth Week, cycle B

He reached out and shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye and said, “Thank you for treating me like a human being.” I was shocked. I blurted out, “How else would I treat you?” He said, “In here, nobody treats us as humans.” I really needed to get away and think about this, but when you are visiting inmates in prison, there are not a lot of options for escape.

I found myself on a team leading a three day weekend for the inmates after a long journey. I had not planned on working with inmates, but the Deacon was very convincing. He brought up all the scripture passages, “I was in prison and you visited me”, “To proclaim liberty to captives”. Most of all, he played the Catholic guilt card, hard and often. I finally said, “Yes”.

The weekend was filled with wonderful moments. The inmates were genuine and open with us. They shared their stories with us and listened to our stories with respect. More than a few tears were shed. The other members of the retreat team were amazing - deeply faithful men and women. On the last day, the inmate thanked me, shocked me and shamed me. I had written off an entire section of society as not worth my time.

Prisoners are isolated and ostracized in today’s society. In the time of Jesus, lepers were in a similar state. They were required to stay one hundred yards away from others and shout, “Unclean, unclean” to keep people away. They were shunned and excluded from society.

And yet, in the gospel passage, a leper approached Jesus and asks to be healed … if it is Jesus’s wish. He does not request or demand healing. He asks Jesus if He wished to heal him. Jesus demonstrated something that we tend to forget today. He loves us more than we can ever understand. When we come to Jesus and ask, He will respond. When we ask Jesus what He wishes, He will answer.

Jesus responded to the leper with great love. Jesus reached out and touched the leper. We know that Jesus could have healed the leper from a distance. He healed others without touching them. Jesus did not need to touch the leper to heal him, but He did. He touched the leper to show His disciples that they did not need to be afraid. They could safely reach out and cure the sick.

But there is more. The Church views sin as a spiritual leprosy. It tarnishes our souls. It moves us further away from God. Jesus did not just heal the leper of leprosy. Jesus healed the leper of his disease AND his sin.

Sin, like leprosy, starts small but grows over time to envelop more and more of our life. If I have a sweet tooth, and I do, I can have a little something from time to time. If I let it grow, it will. I’ll start having sweets for desserts, pastries for breakfast, candy between meals, handfuls of stuff while I watch TV. It grows from a sweet tooth to gluttony, if I let it. Sin grows so easily, we can miss its effects in our lives. 

I used sweets as a real example in my life, but there are many other examples that may be present in our lives. I know there are more in my life that I have struggled with in the past and some I still struggle with. There are mostly legal things that we get wrapped up in and lead us to sin: Alcohol abuse, cursing, gambling, lying, gossip and a sharp tongue. There are illegal things that can take us down the path even easier: Drug abuse, stealing, murder. When we hold up a mirror to our lives, what do we see that might not look good and pure to God? What might God see that we may be ignoring?

We are all sinners. We all need the healing touch of the love of Jesus. We can and should confess our sins to God every night, but we can do more. Every week, there are men waiting to share the healing touch of Jesus in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Men who have felt the power of sin in their own lives and have felt the healing of Jesus. Men who want to tell you that Jesus loves us. Men who want to help us all find our way home to God.

Remember those inmates on the three day weekend? Two priests came in on that weekend and offered Reconciliation. Every single inmate went in to talk to a priest. 

Where is the leprosy, the sin in our lives? Will we come to Jesus and ask him for His healing touch?