Month: June 2021

Today we see the gravity of following Christ. In the center of our readings, we are reminded of the beauty of our call, a call to remain in the presence of the kind and merciful Lord. In the surrounding readings, God points out both the consequences of abandoning Him and the implications of following Him.

At face value, our passage from Genesis 18 concerns the great mercy of God — this is correct, of course, and our Psalm confirms it. However, we need to remember the larger context. Sodom and Gomorrah were known for their depravity, specifically the sin of sodomy. Though God shows His great kindness in condescending to Abraham and informing him of His plans, He still executes judgment on the people of the two cities. Their grave sin does not go unnoticed.

By contrast, the Lord makes clear that He would have spared the city if only ten righteous persons were found within it. He takes the opportunity to worn Lot and send His angels ahead to protect the family. But because only Lot and his family are righteous, the city is destroyed. God shows mercy to the righteous, but His judgment comes for those who repeatedly ignore His pleas.

This helps us place the other accounts of judgment throughout the Old Testament into perspective. The way God acts in response to grave sin may seem excessive, especially when we consider the manner of death — slaying, earthquake, stoning, and the like. Seen in light of Sodom and Gomorrah, though, we can see that God would never go to such lengths for those who would return to Him, called the “righteous” in our First Reading. Destruction of cities and other grave punishments are reserved for truly wayward sinners.

On the flipside of God’s stark justice, we see His great mercy. He is willing to spare the city for ten righteous, and ultimately He is ready to call all into the New Covenant in Christ. When we come to our Gospel, we see the glory of this call. All manner of people come to Jesus to follow Him, but He is no ordinary rabbi. His ministry demands sacrifice and dedication.

To the scribe, He says that following Him will mean homelessness. To the other disciple, He implies that discipleship means letting go of intimate family ties. The follower of Christ is never at home in this world, and he is ready to choose God over family and friends, if it comes to that.

Combined with our First Reading, this may seem like a bleak image. Turn away from God, and He will judge decisively. Follow God, and He will demand that you sacrifice what you hold dear. Such an image, taken on its own, neglects the fact of Who we are following: the kind and merciful Lord, Who gives us all that we need and more.

Jesus Christ is worth following no matter the sacrifice. We know that we were created to be with the Lord in heaven, and that nothing else will satisfy us. He made us to serve Him, but He made serving Him sweet. It may demand some purification so that we have room to accept Him, and it may mean some conflict with those who do not understand, but the alternative is not glamorous, and the journey is worth the sacrifice. As our Alleluia verse says, “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

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In today’s Gospel, we hear those very familiar words of the Centurion. In the previous Gospel, Jesus had just come down from the mountain. After preaching and teaching, he was healing people right and left. It didn’t matter what the afflictions were, Jesus healed them. Then, in today’s Gospel, people were pushing up to him from all sides, wanting his attention and help. Then something very strange happens. A Centurion comes up to him (a Centurion is a very important Roman soldier in charge of 100 men). He said to Jesus, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” Those that were there must have been astounded that a Roman soldier, let alone a centurion, a nonbeliever, would come to Jesus for help! In those times a servant was a kind of lowlife. And here was a soldier asking Jesus to help him. And what was Jesus’ answer?  “I will come and heal him”. The Centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed”. Do those words sound familiar? 

Imagine a man of great power humbling himself before Jesus. I was in the business world for 40 plus years. And never saw that kind of humility. With a man of great authority and power, it was usually the opposite. Jesus was touched by this man’s faith! This is an example of Jesus not being present for the healing. The servant was healed by long distance. This event was so profound that the Church fathers incorporated it in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass! 

For me, the keyword in this event is faith. Remember the time Jesus was passing through Nazareth? He cured very few people there, because there was so little faith. He also told us that if we had the faith the size of a mustard seed we could move mountains. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is a like a pepper speck. When I first saw it my heart sank. Is this me, I thought? Try looking at a speck of pepper and ask yourself, is my faith greater than this? The Centurion had no church, no sacraments, no devotions or Eucharist to come close to God. Yet he was close, very, very close.

Serving With Joy!

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While thankfully not a leprosy sufferer, I have dealt with eczema for many years, including a severe bout on my hands that left them virtually unusable. At their worst, swollen with horrendous peeling, I kept them hidden out of embarrassment. 

Many nights, I lay in bed, tears streaming down my face with the same prayer on my lips, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” During that time, and even now, when I read today’s Gospel of the leper, my heart stirs with empathy and a strong kinship. 

Unlike the leper, my prayer would take years to be answered, but in God’s perfect timing, and according to his loving will, my hands were eventually, miraculously healed completely.

Like the leper, I knew the healing power found in Jesus. While I longed for physical healing, what I found instead was profound spiritual healing. During the three years of battling this particular eczema flare, I learned some of the most valuable lessons of my life. And, inadvertently, my story too glorified God, as so many people ended up walking alongside me in witnessing my suffering, prayers, and eventual healing. Without intending to, I became a model for humility and trust as I needed to rely on people for basic needs and watched my vanity melt away as my worth tied more closely to my faith than my appearance. 

During this time, I learned the true healing Jesus offered was forgiveness for my sins, that the cleanliness I longed for more than anything was inside my soul. A doctor may help me find healing for my hands;  but only my Lord and Savior can bring healing to my soul. Remarkably the Lord revealed many similarities between the eczema on my hands and the sin on my soul. While doctors offer diets, creams, and medications for my hands, Jesus offers the Sacrament of Reconciliation for my soul. While the medicines took years to work, the sacrament’s grace came instantly and in full healing force!

Other similarities I recognized between battling chronic illness and habitual sin:

1. The root cause cannot always be determined and can lay dormant within somebody for years.
2. To truly eradicate it, one often needs to investigate deep into oneself to discover the root cause of the issue.
3. It is often painful, uncomfortable, embarrassing, and can create significant anxiety, and usually, we try to hide it, thinking that it will make it unnoticeable.
4. To be adequately healed, you need to see a physician, and for each, nothing beats the Divine Physician.
5. The longer you put it off seeking help for the condition, the more unnecessary suffering you will endure. 

No suffering we endure can match that which Jesus took on for us. As today’s Gospel Acclamation reminds us, “Christ took away our infirmities and bore our diseases.” Jesus does wish to make us all well. Like the leper, before we ask anything, we should also pay Jesus homage. My praises come not for what He will do for me but for the ultimate gift He has already given. 

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