Gospel: Luke 5:12-16
It happened that there was a man full of
leprosy in one of the towns where Jesus was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell
prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me
clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said “I do will it. Be
made clean. And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to
tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what
Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them. The report about him spread all
the more and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their
ailments but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
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Reflection:
Why was the man with leprosy cured by
Jesus? He was cured because he humbled himself before Jesus. The man sick with
leprosy humbly pleaded to Jesus to heal him of his dreaded and contagious disease
(Luke 5:12). What else did the sick man do? He was also crying while pleading
Jesus to heal him.
In His humanity perhaps Jesus was also wary
of the man’s contagious disease. But when He saw the humility of the sick man
Jesus suddenly throw cautions to the wind. Jesus stretched His hand and touched
the man and during that instance he was instantly healed by Jesus. His acts of
humility opened the merciful heart of Jesus.
There shall be time that we will also get
sick for this is the reality of life. As we grow old we become more vulnerable
to sickness. Will we also humble ourselves before Jesus? Will we also cry while
pleading Jesus to heal us? Of course we
will do these so that we would be healed by Jesus.
However it will not be all the time that we
will receive healing from Jesus. Time will come that we will reach the
end-point of our temporary journey in this world. We will cease breathing, what
are we going to do by then? Should we stop praying? Of course not! For
as long as we have consciousness we continue to plead Jesus.
Not anymore for healing but for mercy and
for forgiveness of our many sins. Let us not wait for that time for it may be years from now. Let
us do it right now while we are still healthy, let us beg Jesus for His mercy
and forgiveness. This we could best do if we humbly submit ourselves to the
healing Sacrament of Confession.
Will you submit yourself to the healing
Sacrament of Confession? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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