The Ten and One returned...

As I reflect and prepare for the homily this week, I cannot help but think of what it must have been like for the ten lepers to be cleansed of their illness.  Although leprosy as refered to in the Bible is much more diverse than Hansons disease, the reality often was that no matter what your illness was, there was a standard that had to be met in order to participate in the daily life of the community.  There are several roads I can take with these readings.  One takes me along the trial and tribulation these lepers must have experienced.  Not only were they going through some major and gross changes in their bodies, but to top it all off, they had been cast out of the worlds they once knew.  No longer fit to be considered one of the community, they often faced isolation and abandonment.  We don't have many lepers today, and especially not in the Western world, but it is too easy to create leprous-like people out of those we fear and wish not to understand.  This category is easily placed on many people, and more and more we are trained to point a finger of accusation and distrust to anyone who does not share our same way of thinking or views.  Dialogue is being destroyed and we speak of toleration rather than understanding.  The leperous-like people today are just as isolated and abandoned as they were in the time of Jesus, and perhaps even more so becuase they live among us, but are left completely alone.  We find ways of avoiding them, especially if we meet one in the potato chip isle at Wal-Mart.  A second road that I thought of taking with this story is that which the lone leper chose to take on returning to Jesus.  Very often, we find comfort in making sure the laws are being followed, the rubrics are taken care of and everything is in its place.  The reality is that in doing so, I may be fulfilling my obligations, but am I really getting to see and know God in my daily life?  The lone leper can be used as a model of this recognition.  While he or she had no obligation to return to Jesus, this person recognized a greater reality to be found in Jesus, and not just in law.  Today,  we can so easily blind ourselves into beleiving that we are holy people because we dot every "i" and cross every "t," but perhaps in our leper brother or sister, we are reminded that God is the main author.  Peace to you and God bless you.