Download audio file

Two-Minute Homily by Dcn Chad Hargrave for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024.
“The radical love and mercy of God will cross any barriers that we think separate us from him. If we are simply present before him then he will always reach out to us.”

• Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  
  The recent pandemic gives us a sense of connection with the Leviticus passage this week. The carrier of an infectious disease, leprosy, is required to shield their face and live apart from others for as long as their condition lasts, a pretty close parallel to our recent masking and isolation rules. These laws of isolation were further enforced with the social stigma that characterised the sufferer as “unclean” not just physically unwell, but morally and spiritually deficient also. If we consider how, in recent history, individuals were identified and condemned for being COVID “super-spreaders” then we can see that this scapegoating mechanism is still very powerful today. To be on the receiving end of such societal hatred is radically dehumanising. A person is exiled to the margins, powerless to change their situation, and burdened with a deep sense of shame. And we all know that shame is a powerful obstacle to a relationship with others, and with God.

  We have all at times resisted coming to Jesus for healing, for reconciliation, because we feel that the shame of taking off our mask, of revealing our true self, is unbearable. I think that’s why the leper doesn’t directly ask for healing. He simply says, “if you want to, you can cure me.” It’s as if he can’t bring himself to make the actual request, all he can do is acknowledge that Jesus has the power to help him. Then he waits, suspended for an agonising moment with his shame laid bare before Jesus. And Jesus acts. He shatters the barrier of stigma and powerlessness by deliberately breaking the law. He reaches out and touches the leper. “Of course I want to!” he says, “be cured!” This gesture and statement tell us three things about God that are, in the end, almost all that we need to know.

  First, that the radical love and mercy of God will cross any barriers that we think separate us from him. If we are simply present before him then he will always reach out to us. Second, that God reaches out because he is truly good and loving. Of course he wants us to be well, to be free, to be reconciled with him. And finally, that God can do it! He always has the power to bring about this healing, and he always will, no matter who we are, or what we’ve done or will do, or what burden we carry.

  So today, please take heart. In your dealings with others it may be necessary at times to mask and isolate, but never with God. You can come to him; you can show him your true face. He is already reaching out to touch you with a love that will never let go.