No one should be Outside!
God brought everything and everyone into the community of God’s children. No one should be outside this community. For this reason, there are no more Jews or Gentiles, male or female, insiders or outsiders; all are inside this community of God’s children, sharing in the new life given to all of us by God in His Christ. Leprosy was a classical example of exclusion! The leper was not part of the community. By virtue of his illness, he has lost his place in the community and lives in isolation. His leprosy, therefore, is more than a physical condition; it is a physical representation of a life that is outside God and the community of God’s children; it mirrors the desolate condition of the soul without God: lonely, empty, miserable, and unhappy. The healing of Jesus goes beyond the physical: he healed his soul, his isolation, and his emptiness. By the same healing, Jesus brought him from staying outside the community to the inside. The certification of the priests is required to grant him his place again among the people of God.
This is such a great mystery that challenges us to seek the one thing that God freely gave us in Jesus Christ: Reconciliation with God and with other children of God. Sin is what separates us from God and from one another. It creates leprosy in the soul and isolates us from life. May we open ourselves to the healing touch of Jesus and let him lead us back to God and one another, especially in God’s family, the Church. Amen
~Fr. Cornelius Okeke