Unclean

Kaluapapa is a small settlement on an isolated peninsula of the island of Molokai in Hawaii. Surrounded on three sides by water, and separated from the rest of the island by 1600 ft. cliffs, Kaluapapa became the site of a famous leper colony in the mid-19th century.

Leprosy arrived in Hawaii in 1848, and the first victims arrived at Kaluapapa in 1866. There was literally nothing there -- no housing, potable water, food -- just the barren land. Victims arrived there by ship and were unceremoniously dumped off:

"...the leprosy victims, arriving by ship, were sometimes told to jump overboard and swim for their lives. Occasionally a strong rope was run from the anchored ship to the shore, and they pulled themselves painfully through the high, salty waves, with legs and feet dangling below like bait on a fishing line.

The ship's crew would then throw into the water whatever supplies had been sent, relying on currents to carry them ashore or the exiles swimming to retrieve them."

Such was the fear of this terrible disease. Father Damien deVeuster, a 33-year old Catholic priest from Belgium, arrived in 1873 to minister to the sick. Not only did he take care of the sick, he helped them build a life, indeed a civilization, on this lonely spit of land.

Father Damien did more than simply administer the faith: he built homes, churches and coffins; arranged for medical services and funding from Honolulu, and became a parent to his diseased wards.

He truly entered into the leper's life of suffering and isolation, contracting the disease himself and eventually giving his life in service to these outcasts in 1879. Fr. Damien has competed the first two steps toward canonization as a saint, having been declared venerable by Pope Paul VI in 1977, and blessed by Pope John Paul II in 1995. (H/T to Visit Molokai visitmolokai.com )

To be a leper in those days was to be ultimate societal outcast, just as it was in the time of Moses in today's first reading. Anyone found to be unclean by reason of leprosy had to live outside the camp and declare to everyone his profound state of alienation:

"The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, 'Unclean, unclean!' "

Of course nothing had changed by Jesus's time in today's Gospel. So in this context it is remarkable that a leper would be bold enough to approach Jesus in the first place. Was he moved by faith in Jesus after hearing tales of other healings? Or was he just so desperate for relief and reunion with civilization that he figured he had nothing to lose? There had to be some of both, but his faith rings out in the leper's simple statement "If you wish, you can make me clean." He didn't really even ask to be healed, not directly anyway.

Moved with pity, [Jesus] stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, "I do will it. Be made clean."

Think about that. "Moved with pity..." Jesus again entered into the experience of someone separated from "normal" life and who probably considered himself accursed and rejected by God, and was moved by pity for the man. He felt his pain and rejection, hurt feelings and hurting body.

"...he stretched out his hand, touched him..." What a radical act of compassion! Jesus, the Ultimate Jew, violated a law given to His ancestors by His very Father centuries before. It was unspeakable. But such was the power of His love for this poor man that not even the Law could stand between Jesus and the salvation of this leper. "I do will it. Be made clean." Wow.

We all carry some burden, some rock -- our leprosy -- that we feel is so grave that not even God can can overcome it. We hold it tight.

"There is something in us humans that keeps us clinging to our sins and prevents us from letting God erase our past and offer us a completely new beginning. Sometimes it seems I want to prove to God that my darkness is too great to overcome...Do I truly want to be so totally forgiven that a totally new way of living becomes possible? Do I trust myself and such a radical reclamation? Do I want to break away from my deep-rooted rebellion against God and surrender myself so absolutely to God's love that a new person can emerge? Receiving forgiveness requires a total willingness to let God be God and do all the healing, restoring, and renewing." -Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son

Jesus is there, patiently waiting for us ask the question inside the statement of faith, "If you wish, you can make me clean."

"I do will it. Be made clean."

With love to Marilyn and Fr. Louie, who showed me that my darkness was no match for the the love of Christ.