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A
leper approached [Jesus] with a request, kneeling down as he addressed
him: “If you will to do so, you can cure me.” Moved
with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said,
“I do will it. Be cured.” The leprosy left him
then and there, and he was cured. Jesus gave him a stern warning
and sent him on his way. “Not a word to anyone, now,”
he said. “Go off and present yourself to the priest and
offer for your cure what Moses prescribed. That should be proof
for them.”
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Sergeant
John McLoughlin and Officer Will Jimeno were part of the tragedy that
the world has come to know as 911, the day during which misguided
religious fanatics changed the course of history. The two Port
Authority officers were trapped in the collapse of one of the towers of
the World Trade Center. They did not know what had
happened. All they knew was that after they had gone into the
building to rescue some people who were trapped, something had
happened, and now they were trapped under tons of debris, and could
only wait. They did not know whether they would ever see their
families again. The easy way out was to give up, to close their
eyes and simply go to sleep forever, but they had a sincere desire to
live, and they did everything they could to keep themselves from
despair.
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Leprosy
was an infectious disease that led to disfigurement of the body and the
skin. The unfortunate people infected with it had to carry a clapper or
bell
to warn of their approach. They were shunned and feared by
others, but studied from a personal point of view, they had to be
people
who wanted more than anything to simply live normal lives. And
so, when the leper approached Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Mark,
he was not only begging to be cured, he was also begging to be relieved
of
the despair of his plight in life. He was ready to give up, and
he needed someone or something to bring back his desire to live.
There are many times in our lives when we are ready to give up. It is embarrassing to realize that it is nothing more than selfishness that dictates such a feeling. After all, we do not have the terrors of 911 or a horribly infectious disease that will bring people to shun us forever. We should realize what we have, and simply go on with life. But, no matter how selfish it is, or how much less it is than others have to suffer, we still feel the despair. Things don’t go right, parents don’t seem to care, friends seem to desert us, important people in our lives seem to dismiss us. We feel “down,” and we want to give up. It is at times like this that we need someone--someone to talk to, someone who cares. Everyone in this world has someone like that whether we admit it or not: a friend, a counselor, a minister. On the spiritual plane, we have someone like that as well. It was something that the leper understood as he approached Jesus. Even the men trapped under the tons of debris of the World Trade Center knew that Jesus was someone quite real. Opening our hearts to the person that Christians know as Lord and Savior is the definition of prayer, and, it is a remedy to despair and giving up. |
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THOUGHT
What
is the most difficult thing in your life right
now that
might want to make you
give up?
PRAYER Good
and gracious God, through your Son you are always present to us whether
we know it or not. As God you are most aware of how we feel and
why we feel that way. When we are near despair and ready to give
up, give us the desire to both talk to someone we can see, and to talk
to you in prayer. Be with us, we pray.
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©2007
Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America |