A WORD OR TWO                                                                                  February 5, 2012                                                                           
             FROM FATHER ALEX

     In next week’s Gospel Jesus heals a leper. He even touched the man. By doing so, the man could return from exile in the misery and horror of the leper caves, and be reunited with his family. Jesus knew very well what his healing would mean to this man’s isolation. The healing of the leper is also a lesson in how Jesus spent his public ministry not being controlled by the religious laws of ritual purity, which would have prevented him from touching the leper.

     Today, our culture still has insiders and outsiders. Insiders are the people we like, we socialize and share “in-jokes” with, maybe we are related to, or we enjoy the most. Outsiders look different, have not lived here as long, do not know how things are done, talk funny, dress out of style, or are just plain weird. The simple question for us is, “How do we relate to the outsiders in our everyday lives?” Do we look at strangers on the street, the bus or the subway, with any degree of charity or patience? Or are they mostly an annoyance, put there to block our path when we are rushing to get to work? Is that saleswoman moving so slowly on purpose, just to drive us crazy? Even in church, too many people get “the glare” if they attempt to step over someone sitting at the pew’s end, or if their baby is crying.

     The compassion of Jesus erases the line between insider and outsider. Our Catechism says it: Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men and women have the same nature and the same origin...all therefore enjoy an equal dignity. (Sec. 1934) Subconsciously we may react to those we consider to be outsiders, because they are different, were not brought up here, are uneducated, are foreigners, who do not speak our language, or for any other reason are not the same as

‘us’. When we come into the world, no one is equipped with everything we need to develop our “bodily and spiritual life.” We need others! The various ‘talents’ (of wealth, social standing, mental and physical aptitude) “are not distributed equally.”

(Sec. 1942)

     And here is the reason, straight from the Catechism: “These differences belong to God’s plan, who wills that we should need one another. These differences should encourage charity.” (Sec. 1937). We churchgoers should be the first example of love and inclusion that everyone sees. We are all part of each other, we are all part of the whole creation. We need one another, and our differences should encourage the charity of Christ to flow from us to all, however different they may be.

   Peace to all.

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