A police officer jumps into the squad car and calls the station. “Sergeant, I have a strange case here,” he says. “A woman shot her husband for stepping on the floor she just mopped.” “Have you arrested her?” asks the sergeant. “No, not yet. The floor’s still wet.”
Problems can often mark the path of marriage as they do in any vocation, but they should never obscure what is essential, never eclipse its essence or value. We can tend to so focus on life’s burdens that its beauty and blessings can recede to the background. We might say that the aim of this World Marriage Day, is to bring forward—to highlight—the beauty and blessing of married life…a vocation that deserves our praise, our support, and our prayers. Here are a few quotes that are worthy of some reflection:
“A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers”
“Marriage is taking each other for better, for worse, but never for granted.”
“Married love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.”
St. John Paul II: “Remember that you are never alone. Christ is with you on your journey, every day of your lives.”
My mother: “You spared some good woman by becoming a priest.”
Let’s shift now to today’s Gospel where St. Mark relates one of the miracles of Our Lord—the healing of a person with leprosy.
Leprosy was a disease that terrorized the ancient world. It still exists but thankfully, it is rare. It results in an ulcerated body wrecked by hideous deformity of various kinds and degrees. People with leprosy suffered not only physically but mentally. In our Lord’s day, a person with leprosy was an outsider like no other…loathed and feared by society, unloved and judged unlovable, one completely banished from society. We might even say that people with leprosy were thought of as the “living dead.”
So, it was unusual that a leper would approach Jesus since lepers were obliged by law to stay away from others. As we can expect, Our Lord’s response is like no other. While others would reprimand him for breaking the law, Jesus does not. While others would reject him, Jesus accepts him. While others would flee, Jesus not only draws near but touches him. While others would be merciless, Jesus is merciful, compassionate.
The Church Fathers, commenting on this episode, saw leprosy as a metaphor for sin. This is seen also in the 38th Psalm. “Lord, punish me no more…my flesh is afflicted because of your anger, Foul and festering are my sores because of my folly. Friends shun my pain; my neighbors stand far off…I acknowledge my guilt and grieve over my sin.”
Leprosy is a metaphor for sin because sin disfigures, deteriorates, and distances us. We are human. We are weak. We can be proud, unloving, selfish, smug, unforgiving, mean-spirited, greedy, angry, un-prayerful. And so, like the leper who knew his need for healing, there are times when we need to approach Jesus in our need for healing. We must allow Jesus to touch us and restore us as he touched and restored the leper.
This happens in the Sacrament of Penance where we experience the compassionate love of God…something to consider as we come to the beginning of Lent this Wednesday.
Compassionate Lord, in a few days Lent begins, a time for greater prayer and penance—an opportunity for healing and renewal. Help me to see how my sins have distanced me from a full life with You. The image of the leper in today’s Gospel reminds me of how sin can disfigure me. Extend also to me your healing touch that I may be restored. You granted the leper a new beginning. May this Lent be my journey to that same blessing!
