“Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” MT 8:1-4
Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary and Joseph.
Today, Jesus, Son of the living God, the Incarnate Word, heals. This is part of His mission and the way God the Father chose to show His power through miracles so that we may believe in His Son. When Jesus came down the mountain and huge crowds followed, it was a pure act of faith by the leper that this Man was no prophet or ordinary Man, but God himself.
Lepers were not allowed anywhere close to people and they were not allowed to be in the Temple because they were unclean. Imagine not being able to be with your closest loved ones and not being able to enter the place you worshiped God. Imagine the shouts of the people to get away from them! He had a lot to endure just to get close to Jesus. How hard do we fight to get close to Jesus in prayer, the Eucharist, Adoration, Works of Mercy?
The leper represents the bottom of the barrel. Hopeless, no way out, unwanted and complete and utter loneliness was the life of the leper. I don’t know about you, but I have felt this way in my own life. You may feel this even if you have a loving family, a loving spouse, or loving children. I have learned that at my core this is the reality of a sinner who needs a Savior. St. Augustine says it well when he says, “My heart is restless until it rests in you”.
Just because a person has people around them that love them doesn’t mean they always feel seen or heard. We need them in our lives and they are very special, but only God can fill the gaping hole of our heart that is a strong desire to be loved by our Creator. Today, if you need to say the words of the leper, say them in prayer in silence and listen to Jesus say, “I will do it, be made clean”. Get out of your own life and get into someone else’s even if it is uncomfortable to make them feel seen and heard. Keep this in your back pocket, you will need it during many different seasons of your life.
Today’s challenge: Embrace loneliness, fear of the unknown, guilt, shame and embarrassment from sin, fight Satan and the doubt in God he tempts us with, the shame he tempts us with that after we sin God does not love us or we can never be holy. Tell him to go to hell where he belongs!
Be a servant, be a saint today!
#Christian YOLO
Mr. Dappermint would like to say,
Today’s gospel is about how sometimes you may feel clean and happy and life is great. But, God is the only one that can make you truly clean. Humans usually sin everyday even if you don’t realize it, so you can easily feel great but really have multiple sins in you and your spirit is not clean.
Today’s Gospel is about how the only way to heal spiritually is through Jesus, and how he chooses to heal us because he loves us.