February 14

by David Lins  |  02/14/2021  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

Today is Valentine’s Day. (If you need to set this down and run to the local grocery store’s floral department— no worries—I’ll wait right here......you back? Okay.) It’s all about love. And some commercialism. But mostly LOVE.

It is the perfect word to describe our God. Everything God creates and everything God does and even everything God allows emanates from love. It can be so hard to believe or understand in various seasons of life, but that doesn’t diminish from its truth.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus encounters a leper. Take note of the wording here: a leper. Not a man suffering from a disease. The disease has become the identity.

Lepers of the time suffered twice. First of the disease. Then, more cruelly, they were cast out of society. Forced to leave behind family, friends, homes, jobs, purpose, the possibility of a single human embrace.

We have all gotten the slightest taste of what this (almost always) life sentence must’ve felt like. The isolation. The lack of community and the lack of touch.

It’s almost enough to kill a person without a disease. And then Jesus comes along.

And stretches out His Hand.

And touches him.

We flippantly use the expression “how touching!” Did it originate here, I wonder? Imagine being that person after being shunned from even a pat on the back to being touched. Finally.

The man is immediately healed.

We have the power (Holy Spirit) to be His Hands and bring healing to a world packed with people who have forgotten their identity. Pray for them. Reach out to them. Love them. Remind them who they are.

Questions? Comments? Email David at dlins@oloj.org