Thursday, March 14, 2024

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:3-4, 12-15; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-23

Jeremiah was sent by God to prophesy to the Jews at a time when political and religious leaders offended God so much. There was a lot of corruption and injustice in the land. The political and religious leaders did not care nor believed that corruption and injustice could make them lose favor with God and bring destruction to their land. They prided themselves on the Temple of Jerusalem and God’s covenant with their fathers Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. The old covenant was sealed with animal sacrifices and animal blood. For instance, in Exodus 24:8, “Then Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you ...’”


Jeremiah prophesied to them that the temple would be destroyed and the old covenant would no longer hold. He prophesied the nature of the new covenant as we see in the first reading, “But this is a covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 13:33). The new covenant was no longer going to be sealed with animal sacrifices and animal blood, and the law written on scrolls and tablets of stone; but it would be sealed with the Blood of the Lamb, and the law written on the hearts of men and women. The Book of Hebrews calls Jesus “the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).  


Each of us is invited to a spiritual checkup during this Lenten season to examine the state of our covenant with God. God says, “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” How does this apply to me? Regularly, God tries to place his law within me and tries to write it on my heart. How recipient am I? Do I do away with it, and place something else within me, and write something else on my heart?


Someone says, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.” This is to say that what we consume is what we become. Ordinarily, if we eat healthy food, we become healthy. If we eat junk food, our health becomes junky. Those who accept God’s law and retain it in their hearts and put it to practice are children of the new covenant. Those who consume worldly things become children of the world. Worst still, those who consume bedeviled things become children of the devil and tools of the devil.


In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to renew ourselves by dying to our sinful selves. He says, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25). Jesus further assures us, “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me” (John 12:26).


Further in today’s gospel, Jesus says, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (John 12:32). His passion, crucifixion, death, and glorification made him the mediator of the new covenant and “the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:9). As he draws us to himself, let nothing pull us away from him.


“What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? … No, in all these things, we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37-39). Amen.


Monday, March 11, 2024

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

 2 Chronicles 36:14-16; 19-23; Psalm 137:1-6; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is called 'Laetare' Sunday. 'Laetare' is a Latin word that means ‘Rejoice.’ Amid our Lenten penance, Laetare Sunday puts us in hopeful expectation of the Easter joy. Today’s Mass entrance antiphon is, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast” (Isaiah 66:10-11).


The first reading is what happened to the people of Israel when they turned away from God and continued to sin. “All the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord’s temple…The Lord … sent messengers to them … But they mocked the messengers of God, despised their warnings, and scoffed at his prophets …” They moved away from God and fell into the hands of their enemies who conquered them. “Their enemies burned down the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all the palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects. Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon …” This is a story of sin and the consequence of refusal to repent.


The consequence of the rejection of God by the people of Israel happens to anyone and any people who turn away from God and turn to evil. This explains the reasons for so much disintegration in our homes, society, and world. Underdevelopment, poverty, hunger, sickness, hardship, migration, and so on are consequences of the sins of the ‘princes’ (rulers), the priests (religious leaders), and the people. God has not designed or ascribed impoverishment and suffering to any group of people or any part of the world. The Book of Wisdom 1:12-16 says, “… God did not make death nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being, and the creatures of the world are wholesome. … It was the wicked who, with hands and words, invited death ….”


God admonishes us through Prophet Ezekiel, “I do not want the wicked to die but rather that they turn from their evil ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). And in 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, “And my people who bear my name humble themselves, and pray and look for me, and turn from their wicked ways, then I myself will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and restore their land.”


The first reading tells us that after seventy years, the Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire, and surprisingly, King Cyrus of Persia released the people of Israel to return to their land. Jesus is the new King Cyrus, who has redeemed us and sets us free from captivity and enslavement caused by sin and evil. In this fourth week of Lent, we are invited to examine ourselves to see if we are held captive and enslaved either by sin or weakness or concerns of life; and turn to Jesus to free and liberate us. He tells us to prefer him, the Light, instead of darkness. He says, “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works are evil” (John 3:19). It must not be so with us.


St. Paul in the second reading says, “God who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us [his handiwork], even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:4). Jesus says in today’s gospel, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).


In today’s gospel, Nicodemus has something to teach us. He was a Jewish leader, but his desire for the Light kept him restless and sleepless. Who knows how long he was in this state? On that particular night, he could no longer hold back or even wait for daybreak. While others were sleeping and may be some others were having good times, he went in search of the Light. He found the Light and became part of our salvation story. Later in John 7:51, as a changed man, he reminded other Jewish leaders who wanted Jesus arrested of their law, “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?” He helped Joseph of Arimathea to bury Jesus. He brought a costly mixture of myrrh and aloes that weighed about 100 pounds (45kg), which was used to prepare Jesus’ body for burial (John 19:39-40).


What keeps me restless and sleepless? Is the desire for the Light part of it, or is it completely the concerns of life, or is it the desire to sin? Like Nicodemus, can I be a voice of truth in times of falsehood?


Jesus welcomed Nicodemus when he came to him at night. This means that Jesus is ever-ready waiting to welcome us.


THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

 Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19:8-11; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

We are mid-way in the Lenten season. The cross above helps us to evaluate how the Lenten journey is progressing.


In the first reading, from the Book of Exodus, the Israelites had left Egypt and were no longer under Pharaoh and the laws of Egypt. God did not leave them without guiding principles. The commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) were to guide the Israelites’ relationship with God and their relationship with one another.


The Ten Commandments are summarized as follows:

“1. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have any gods before me. 2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day. 4. Honor your father and your mother. 5. You shall not kill. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7. You shall not steal. 8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.”


The first three commandments guide relationships with God, while the other seven guide relationships with fellow human beings. God’s commandments are enough to guide every person, every institution, every organization, every nation, and our world. Our problem, as Jesus points out, is that human beings abandon God’s commandments and cling to human traditions (Mark 7:8). While all human traditions (constitutions, laws, canons, ordinances, etc.) are imperfect, the psalmist testifies, “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The decree of the Lord is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eye” (Psalm 19:8-9). Wherever God’s commandments are not kept, the opposite becomes the case: disturbance of soul, folly, conflict, and blindness.


As we journey through the Lenten season, God draws our attention, again, to his commandments which are one of the Church’s teachings given to us when we reach the age of reasoning to guide our spiritual and moral development. Today, God invites us to remember our very beginning that we may have forgotten, we may have neglected, and we may have fallen short. Is my life still guided by God’s commandments? Which of them do I need to work on during this Lenten season?


Today’s gospel tells us how the temple area, which was supposed to be a holy ground and serene place of prayer, was turned into a marketplace. Those who came for the feast of Passover were required to pay temple tax for the upkeep of the temple. Since the Roman and Greek coins had images of their gods and their emperors stamped on them and therefore were regarded as pagan coins which could not be used to pay the temple tax, money-changers stayed in the temple area and exchanged the pagan coins for Jewish coins. The money-changers cheated the people by offering them a very low exchange rate. Also, sacrificial animals were not to be brought from outside but must be bought from the sellers in the temple area. The sellers sold the animals at exorbitant prices. It was because of these corrupt practices in the name of God that Jesus “made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, ‘Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace’” (John 2:15-16).


Unfortunately, there are churches, religious houses, religious grounds, and their leaders who commit the sin of turning places of worship into business centers and market places. They extort, cheat, and steal in the name of God. They stand condemned by Jesus’ words and actions in today’s gospel.


In today’s gospel, while Jesus speaks of his body as the temple, the Jews speak of the physical temple building. As followers of Jesus, St. Paul asks us, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19). During this Lenten season, let us present our bodies to Jesus to cleanse us as he cleansed the temple area that we may be a renewed dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. May he cleanse us physically and spiritually. Amen.


We conclude with the song, “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus” by Robert Lowry (1876).


What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Genesis 22:1-2, 9, 10-13, 15-18; Psalm 116:10, 15-19, Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10

The first reading is about Abraham. A brief background of him may be helpful. Abraham was called by God to leave his native land for the land God was to show him. Abraham, although 75 years old, obeyed God and left his father’s house, his relatives, and his land and “went as the Lord directed him” (Genesis 12:1, 4).


Abraham was a hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 17:17). “With human being, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” (Luke 19:26). God makes grass grow upon mountains! (Psalm 147:8). In today’s first reading, God commanded Abraham, “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There offer him up as a burnt offering …” (Genesis 22:2). What a command! Go and sacrifice the child Abraham and Sarah desired and prayed for all their life! Go and sacrifice the child born at an advanced age with no possibility of having another child! Abraham obeyed. He set out with his servants and Isaac.


As they were on their way, Isaac asked Abraham a heart-wrenching question: “The fire and wood are here, where is the lamb for the sacrifice” (Genesis 22:7). This question could have made Abraham change his mind from offering his son as a burnt sacrifice. But Abraham, being a man of obedience and a man of faith, replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice” (Genesis 22:8). This was a prophecy because God provided a ram, not just a lamb, which Abraham sacrificed instead of his son Isaac (Genesis 22:13). For this reason, “Abraham named that place Yahweh-yireh” meaning, “God-the-Provider” (Genesis 22:14). For being obedient to his command, God promised numerous blessings to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 22:18). God’s providence and blessings accompany obedience to him and faith in him. 


Abraham, also, made a prophetic utterance to his servants who accompanied him. When they neared the place of the sacrifice, he said to them, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship, and then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5). How did Abraham know that God was going to provide the animal for the sacrifice and that Isaac and he were only going to worship and come back? It came to pass as Abraham had foretold. After Abraham sacrificed the ram, he and Isaac came back to the servants, and they returned home. What a display of obedience and faith!


Because Abraham was obedient to God and had faith in God, all his utterances on the journey became prophetic. There is power and reward in obedience and faith. James 2:23 says about Abraham, “Abraham believed in God, so he was considered a righteous person and was called a friend of God.” Obedience to God and faith in God make us friends of God. Abraham’s relationship with God is an encouragement to us in our faith journey and in our relationship with God. Our reward is great if we obey God and have faith in him. We will be his friends; he will bless us; he will provide for us.


Abraham’s words, “God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice,” was, also, a prophecy about Jesus Christ. John the Baptist revealed him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). St. Paul says in the second reading, “He did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all…” (Romans 8:32). The ram was sacrificed in order to spare Isaac. In the same way, Jesus, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed in order to spare us. Abraham sacrificed the ram. Jesus sacrificed himself. What is our sacrifice during this Lenten season? 


When Jesus transfigured, as we read in today’s gospel, his clothes became dazzling white. The Lenten season is a season of grace and a season of transfiguration. We pray that as we journey through the Lenten season, we may transfigure from disobedience to obedience, from hate to love, from weak faith or lack of faith to strong faith, from heart of stone to heart of flesh, from indifference to the word of God to listening, from being far from God to being close to him, from sin to repentance, and from gloom and despair to dazzling beauty. God instructs us today, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7). His words “are spirit and they are life” (John 6:64). He is the One who takes away our sins and sorrows and helps us to transfigure.


Let us present to God all dark clouds that hide our beauty. May God’s light with its dazzling effect shine upon us and dispel every dark cloud. Through the graces of the Lenten season, may we experience physical and spiritual transfiguration. Amen.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Genesis 9:8-15; Psalm 25:4-9; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15

The first reading tells us about God’s covenant with Noah. I think that what Noah did after surviving the flood made possible God’s covenant with him. Scripture says, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the Lord smelled the sweet odor, the Lord said to himself: Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, since the desires of the human heart are evil from youth; nor will I ever again strike down every living being, as I have done. All the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:18-22). Noah did not take his surviving the flood for granted. He built an altar to the Lord and offered a generous sacrifice. Noah’s gratitude, thanksgiving, and putting God first earned him God’s covenant. This teaches us the power of gratitude, thanksgiving, and putting God first. May we be able to offer God sweet smelling sacrifice. May God smell our sacrifice and renew his covenant with us. Amen.


The entire first reading contains details of God’s covenant with Noah.  In the covenant, God says, “I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (Genesis 9:13). In the Old Testament, the bow is a symbol of weapon or an instrument of war. In other words, God is saying, “I hang up my weapon of destruction in the cloud as a sign of my covenant.” God swore to Noah as we have read, “Never again will I … strike down every living being, as I have done” (Genesis 8:21). “… never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by waters of a flood; there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth” (Genesis 9:11). On Good Friday, a New Everlasting Covenant is made. Jesus hangs on the Cross as a symbol of forgiveness of sin, mercy, and redemption to humanity. Unlike the bow that symbolizes an instrument of destruction, Jesus symbolizes the instrument of God’s forgiveness, mercy, and redemption.


I still remember the impressive way my catechism teacher, years ago, presented the story of Noah. He said that Noah preached to his people to repent from their sinful life to avert the impending rain and flood; but they did not believe him. They preferred their worldly and sinful life. When the rain and flood came, they all perished. My catechism teacher, rightly, interpreted the words in the second reading, “… God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark” (1 Peter 3:20).


God is, also, waiting patiently for each of us. Jesus warns us in today’s gospel, “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Let us not harden our hearts as Noah’s people did. The Lenten Season is one of the special times God invites us to come back to the source of our salvation. It is a season of repentance and a season of grace.


We read from Prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday, “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God (Joel 2:12-13). God declares, “For I find no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies …  Turn back and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32). It is a soul-searching journey. We are invited to turn away from sins and disengage from anything that can bring destruction to life, faith, career, business, finance, family, vocation, position, job, marriage, future, and so on.


In today’s gospel reading, the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert, where he was tempted by Satan. Jesus was among wild beasts, but the angels ministered to him. In the same way, our life is a desert. Our afflictions, trials, and temptations are wild beasts. We pray that God sends his angels to minister to us and lead us to victory through it all. Amen.


We conclude with praying Psalm 91:11-13, “For he commands his angels with regard to you, to guard you wherever you go. With their hands, they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You can tread upon the asp and the viper, trample the lion and the dragon.” Amen.


Tuesday, February 13, 2024

ASH WEDNESDAY, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

 Joel 2:12-18; Psalm 51:3-6, 12-14, 17; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18


Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Lenten season, 46 days before Easter. However, Lent is 40 days since six Sundays in the season of Lent are not supposed to be fast days and are not counted. Each Sunday is a feast day, a mini-remembrance of Jesus’ resurrection.


The 40 days of Lent represent the 40 years the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land, and the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert before his ministry. On our part, our journey and our desert are of REPENTANCE, FASTING, ALMSGIVING, and PRAYER. The first reading invites us, “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God” (Joel 2:12-13).


What is the meaning of the ash? The ash, traditionally, from the burnt palms of last year's Palm Sunday that is marked on our forehead symbolizes contrition and repentance, which is why the day is called Ash Wednesday.


Ash as a sign of contrition and repentance goes back to the Old Testament. Job prayed, “I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). “… the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. … [The king] rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes” (Jonah 3:5-6).


We abstain from meat and food that contains meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as an honor to the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Abstaining from meat is also an act of contrition and penance.


REPENTANCE: When ashes are distributed, the priests or his assistant says; “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19). This reminds us where we come from and where we will return. “Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). “For he knows how we are formed, remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:13-14). Do we, ourselves, remember?


Or, the priest or his assistant says, “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” This reminds us Jesus’ first words when he began his ministry: “This is a time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).


ALMSGIVING: Gifts from God are not only meant for us. God gives them to us to share with others, especially with the needy. Lenten observance must include works of charity. “Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin.” (Tobit 12:8-10).


FASTING: There are reasons for Lenten fasting. It is a way of prayer as Jesus did (Matthew 4:2). It is a way of penance and repentance as the people of Nineveh did. It is a way of sacrifice and self-denial. Fasting is not only from food and depriving ourselves of necessities, it includes, as Pope Francis advises, our attitudes. He says,  

• Fast from hurting words and say kind words.

• Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.

• Fast from anger and be filled with patience.

• Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.

• Fast from worries and have trust in God.

• Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.

• Fast from pressures and be prayerful.

• Fast from bitterness and fill your hearts with joy.

• Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.

• Fast from grudges and be reconciled.

• Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.


PRAYER: Why do we have to pray? We are not self-sufficient; we depend on God. Beyond praying for material things, we pray and look to God for our spiritual well-being and solidity. Further, prayer drives away the Evil One and his agents. “… his disciples asked him in private, “Why could we not drive it out? He said to them, ‘This kind can only come out through prayer’” (Mark 9:29). Jesus cautioned Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). He also cautioned his disciples, “Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).


In addition to other spiritual duties and exercises, we are encouraged to attend Stations of the Cross, Lenten Retreat, Penitential Service, and Sacrament of Reconciliation. Again, from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, we are invited to make a journey of REPENTANCE, FASTING, ALMSGIVING, and PRAYER. We are invited to a journey of faith and spiritual renewal.


We pray for a Spirit-filled and a fruitful Lenten season. Amen.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B, 2024 BY FR. MARTIN EKE, MSP

Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46; Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11; 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45

The first reading is from the Book of Leviticus. The book is mainly about the Levites’ priestly ministry. At that time, priests were from the tribe of Levi. The book deals with functions and concerns of priests and rituals, and spiritual rules and regulations for priests and the people.


In the first reading are some regulations and responsibility of priests concerning the disease of leprosy. It was the responsibility of priests to declare a person leprous and unclean. Anyone declared leprous by the priest “shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp” (Leviticus 12:46).


The leprous “shall keep his garment rent and head bare, and muffle his beard;” and shout “unclean, unclean” should he come by people (Leviticus 13:44-46). By so doing, the leprous alerted the people to give way so as not to be made ‘unclean.’ Leviticus 5:3 instructs, “If someone … touches some human uncleanness, whatever kind of uncleanness this may be, subsequently becomes unclean.”


There were two reasons why the Jews kept lepers apart from the community. First, the disease was quite contagious. Second, the Jews believed that those who suffered the disease were sinners (physically and spiritually unclean) and were being punished by God.


Leprosy was a dangerous disease. It mercilessly chops off part of the body; toes, fingers, ear blades, lips, eyelashes, and so on. It hardens the parts of the body it affects in such a way that it renders medication ineffective. Not only among the Jews, but also around the world, the disease was dreaded, and sufferers were isolated. A Catholic priest, St. Damien de Veuster, who became known as St. Damien the Leper lived and worked in a leper colony in Hawaii (USA). He contracted the disease and died in 1889. Despite the advanced medical treatment of the disease, leper colonies still exit today in various parts of the world.


How did the leper in today’s gospel hear about Jesus and his healing power since he was supposed to live in a lepers’ colony? Did the other lepers in the colony not hear about Jesus? Maybe they did but chose to remain in their condition. How did he find out where Jesus was? He did something extraordinary and dramatic. He broke all Jewish restricting rules and regulations. He broke away from the colony and from hopelessness and made his way to Jesus, probably shouting “unclean,” “unclean” as he went. The crowd might have dispersed and stood far away as he approached. He got to where Jesus was, perhaps alone with Jesus, knelt down and begged him to make him clean. Moved with pity, Jesus touched him and healed him.


There are people who must break away from ‘the leprosy’ which has colonized them and kept them in bondage and in captivity. Most times, independence or freedom of the colonized is achieved by refusing to remain colonized. The leper’s story reminds us of the prodigal son who came to his senses and left the pigs farm and returned to his father (Luke 15:11-32). We need to come to our senses and ask ourselves some sincere questions. “What is my leprosy?” “What has colonized me and taken away my freedom?” We need to identify our leprosy and come to Jesus for liberation and freedom.


In one way or another, we are all spiritually leprous. As leprosy deforms and disfigures its victims, our sins deform and disfigure us. As leprosy hardens the skin and renders medication ineffective, our hearts are hardened by our sins, addictions, attitudes, and lifestyle, making the word of God unable to penetrate us. But Jesus treats us with pity when we come to him. He forgives us and heals us. The leper, isolated in a colony, heard about Jesus and his healing power and came looking for Jesus. This leper is a challenge to us.


It was the priest that declared a leprous unclean (Leviticus 13:8); and it was the priest that declared a person clean when the person was healed from leprosy (Leviticus 13:17). In today’s gospel, Jesus says to the leper, “… go, show yourself to the priest …” (Mark 1:44). These passages are not mere coincidence. The passages are some of the biblical foundations of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We show ourselves to the priest at the Sacrament of Reconciliation in humble obedience to Jesus. And the priest, in the name and authority of Jesus and the Church, declares us ‘clean.’   


Lastly, are there people we treat as if they are lepers? Are there people we despise, ostracize, exclude, and discriminate against? Are there people we label ‘unclean’ and avoid them? We cannot be desiring to be close to God while we, resentfully, distance ourselves from our fellow human beings. St. Paul advises us in the second reading, “… whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. Avoid giving offense, whether Jew or Greek or the Church of God” (1 Corinthians 10:32). Let us ask God the grace of giving love to one another instead of giving offense and the grace to do all things for his glory. Amen.