Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel, we hear the man with leprosy say to Jesus, "If you wish, you can make me clean."

What a simple and profound statement of faith!

We are then told that Jesus, “moved with pity, stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him,
"I do will it. Be made clean."

What a response! How can we not be encouraged by this; we who are so disfigured by the effects of sin in our lives?

Jesus waits for us in every day, every moment of our lives. He is there to heal our broken hearts and restore our lost innocence and authentic human nature marred by sin.

We have only to turn toward Jesus at any moment and in every moment; to open the door to our heart and say, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” His reply will be the same one he made to the man with leprosy, "I do will it. Be made clean."

Ash Wednesday is in just three days. As we approach the beginning of Lent, let us keep in mind the words of St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, “It is now the hour for you to wake from sleep. The night is far spent; the day draws near. Let us cast of deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us live honorably as in daylight.”

However, it is important not to approach our practices of Lent as a time to conquer our sins on our own, or to save ourselves. Lent is not a 40-day “self-help” project, nor is it a time for personal achievement. Instead, Lent is a sacred and special time during which we seek Jesus and invite him to work in us. The victory we seek during Lent is not self-mastery, but the mastery of Jesus in every nook and cranny of ourselves.

Lent is a sacred time, a time in which to encounter Jesus and be transformed. In fact, every moment of every day is sacred in that same sense. Jesus longs to heal our broken hearts, to restore our lost innocence and renew our authentic human nature that has been marred by sin. God works in the “now” of our lives, which we have difficulty seeing or experiencing because we are either enslaved by our past or transfixed, whether in fear or in anticipation, with the future. Rather than becoming impatient with ourselves, or with God, because we cannot see how God is transforming us, we are called to be patient with God and seek only to encounter Jesus in the present moment, in the one day you currently have.

God is patient with us because God is always working in the present moment. As we read in 2^nd Peter, “Consider the patience of the Lord as salvation.”

Do not allow God’s patience to lull us to sleep. Rather, it is imperative that we see each day, every moment as a sacred “now” in which we will encounter Jesus.  Lent is a time in which we can change how we use each moment. I encourage you to look for ways in which you don’t treat time as sacred and instead throw it away on excessive checking of social media, entertainment or sinful behavior. Instead, use each moment to encounter Jesus in prayer, in serving those who are in need or lonely, in being present to your family. Jesus waits in every moment to heal and transform each of us. Let us cry out to Jesus, “If you wish, you can make me clean." Jesus replies, “I do will it. Be made clean."

Deacon Pierce Murphy