In Baptism, We Are Healed by Jesus

Today, the 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, the readings present to us two lepers being healed. Both were foreigners, but both have great faith in God.

Leprosy in the Old Testament has always been a consequence of sin, because what leprosy does to the body, sin does to the soul. One who has leprosy smells bad because of the open wound. It also deforms the body. A person who is living in sin has a deformed soul and smells terribly.

Jesus, the great physician, by instituting the sacraments of healing (Baptism, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick) brings back health in us.

What leprosy does to the body, sin does to the soul.

By the sacrament of Baptism, which is our first encounter with Jesus, we are being cleansed by our original sin (leprosy). And as Jesus in today’s Gospel asks the 10 lepers to show themselves to a priest, Baptism is completed with us receiving Jesus in the Eucharist (Holy Mass).

As in the time of Jesus, the nine took for granted the gift they received and were ungrateful and would not even thank Jesus, the high priest for the healing, the Christians of today, healed by the sacrament of Baptism, failed to thank Jesus for the healing which is practically what the Mass is, a thanksgiving.

Let us try our best to be like the one that came back to Jesus and thank him for the healing.