Jesus Christ, Healer of Our Every Wound

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, February 11th, 2024:
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Mark
1.40-45 ​

​A man with leprosy came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling said to Jesus, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

After sternly warning him Jesus sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

But the man went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to Jesus from every quarter.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

How many times have I come before Jesus on my knees, begging Him to heal something in me? The anguish of the leper echoes within the heart of each human person—there's darkness inside each of us, and no matter how hard we try, we cannot heal ourselves.

St. Catherine of Siena is a great proponent of self-knowledge as a crucial aspect to the spiritual life. But it can happen that as our sinfulness is revealed to us throughout life, it can start to weigh us down. We might become discouraged. Perhaps we go to confession again and again with the same list of sins. Maybe we hear ourselves saying, “I try so hard, yet nothing ever changes!”

The beauty of the Christian life is that we don’t have to save ourselves. Someone has been sent to save us. 

The leper shows us two crucial steps in our healing journey. First, turn to Christ for salvation. Think of that word for a minute. “Salvation” is related to the word “salve.” Our wounded hearts need Christ, sent by the Father as the healing ointment used to anoint our wounds. When I catch myself saying “I try so hard,” it may be a good reflection of how I’ve subconsciously turned to myself for healing instead of to Christ.

Second, the leper makes an act of faith by professing, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” He’s not just stating a fact or trying to convince Jesus to do something for him. He’s showing his trust in Jesus as Lord. The leper takes advantage of this moment of encounter with Jesus to exercise his virtue of faith, thus allowing his faith to be increased. He receives a double blessing in turn—physical healing and a deepening of virtue.

Our Heavenly Father gives us opportunities to grow in faith precisely through times of difficulty, not in spite of them. Difficulties can be transformed by grace into blessings, when we allow them to help us grow as we need. When we view life's difficulties within the framework of divine providence, we can see that whatever God has allowed in our lives can be transformed from obstacles into gifts of love from our Father. Jesus is, in fact, waiting behind every difficulty, for us to bring it to Him in prayer, to make an act of faith, and to trust that He is doing a work of healing, even if we can’t see the effects right away.

And if we struggle to see life’s difficulties as something that God can use for good, let's not be afraid to ask for the grace to see divine providence in our lives. It may take time; but even in the asking, we’re coming before our Heavenly Father in prayer, which is an encounter with Love Himself. And every encounter with love is healing.




Caroline Dubois

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