6th Sunday of the Year [B] 2012

 

(This homily is very brief, due to Bishop Blair’s ACA kickoff message at the beginning of Mass.)

 

--A few sentences to support ACA…

 

          And now to the Word of God…  How long had this man in the gospel, the leper, hidden himself?  It must have seemed like a lifetime.  Always ringing a bell, shouting “Unclean! Unclean!” so that no people would come near him. He was a carrier of a contagion.  And worse than the disease was the loneliness.  Oh, he could associate with those afflicted with the same disease, but the shroud of loneliness enveloped him when he saw normal people laughing, dancing, picnicking, shopping, going to Temple in crowds he could never join.

 

          Then he heard that the Nazarean was in the area, the healer.  He made his way to Jesus, stealthily, like a thief.  He knew people would try to chase him away, throw stones at him.  But nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Strange though, the people parted like the Red Sea and allowed him to approach Jesus.  Maybe they, too, had been healed.

 

          He never expected what happened next.  There was a collective gasp from the crowd.  Jesus touched him!  No one had touched him for years.  It was as if the rabbi was sending a signal: We are brothers.  And his leprosy disappeared like dirt washed away in the village pool, like sins cleansed in the Jordan River.  Jesus healed him, and restored him to life—life with people: family, friends, even strangers!

 

          Have you ever felt the healing touch of Jesus?  When you were feeling down and out and prayed, “If you will to do so, you can cure me”—and suddenly you felt as cheerful as a chirping bird?  How often have you extended the healing touch to others?  The healing touch of affirmation?  Someone is depressed or uncertain or feeling inferior, and you point out some quality that enhances that person’s self-worth.  It wasn’t that much for you to do.  But for the other person it was new hope, new possibilities, new life.  What one person needs to be touched by you this week?  Let not these seven days pass by without making that contact.

 

          In a few minutes we will be touched as directly and dramatically as was that terrified leper in Mark’s story, as we take the Body of Christ into our very being.  May we allow that touch to heal the sores and contagions and fears within us, so that we might then become his healers in our world.