Posted by The WORD in other words (2006) by Father Rudolf Horst SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Friday 12th Week in Ordinary Time
In his bestseller The Shoes of the Fisherman, Morris West presents the fictional Pope Kiril I, who leaves the Vatican at night to meet his people incognito in their real situations and miseries. He realized that beautiful sermons and theological letters alone cannot touch the hearts of those who suffer.
Today’s Gospel begins: “When Jesus came down from the mountain…” (Matthew 8:1). What had He done on the mountain? He had just given the Sermon on the Mount, presenting the new law of love at its center. But He did not remain there. He went down to face the harsh realities of life. Immediately, He met a leper — an outcast, thought by society to be punished by God for terrible sins. Jesus touched him and healed him. With one gesture, He broke through prejudice, fear, and barriers constructed by human society.
In Scripture, leprosy often symbolizes sin. We are all sinners, yet we have experienced the healing touch of Christ in the sacraments. The question is: are we ready to be His hands and touch the “lepers” of our own society — the marginalized, the minorities, those our communities hesitate to embrace?
It is easy to remain on the “mountain,” praying in church or joining prayer groups. Holiness seems simple there. But true holiness is lived where the “lepers” wait for our compassion. On the mountain, we receive strength; but we must go down to daily life, where faith becomes Eucharist — the source and summit of Christian life (cf. Lumen Gentium 11). Only then do we become Christ’s hands, reaching out in love to those most in need in our profit-driven world.
One comment