3rd Sunday After Epiphany

'And behold a leper came and adored Him, saying, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." /And Jesus stretching forth His hand, touched him, saying, 'I will, be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.' - Matt. VIII.ii-iii

This, taken from yesterday's gospel, for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, is one of my favourite passages from the gospel of Matthew. The text above, taken from the great Douay-Rheims, doesn't quite do justice to the impact of the words, at least, to our modern ears as we have lost the subtle specific difference between ‘will’ and ‘shall’. The Latin reads: ‘Domine, si vis, potes me mundare. Jesus…dicens: Volo. Mundare.’ O Lord, if Thou wished, Thou [has the power to] cleanse me. Jesus… [said], ‘I wish. Be clean.’ Volo means to want, to wish, to desire, which is what ‘I will’ implies, as opposed to the more matter of fact ‘I shall’.

How powerful that is! The Lord, not only can heal the leper, the diseased outcast, but desires to! This is completely in line with the remainder of the gospel, which showcased the great charity of God, healing all the multitudes, culminating in the great faith of the Roman Centurion, with his Domine non sum dignus. Yet, through it all, it is this that really strikes me today, the desire of the Lord to heal us. That great overwhelming charity and mercy that He wants to pour upon us in buckets, to make us new again, whole, complete, perfect. A desire, which our priest reminded us yesterday, was a most scandalous thing to do in Jewish society, to give court to the diseased and the outcast, and not only to heal them, but to touch them as well. It is an intimate desire of Our Lord to connect with us, to touch us, as any good physician would do, as we are, as broken, sinful humans, and to make us whole.

But, there is another aspect to examine as well, the desire and the faith of the Leper. He is the one who approached the Lord with courage and faith, to beg for healing, to ask to be cleaned. Likewise, so too must we, approach the Lord in similar fashion if we are to seek similar graces. This is the beauty of God’s goodness, the free will of the unclean leper to approach Christ, the fount of infinite mercy and love, so that we are drawn to cooperate with God, to submit to receive His gifts. Christ has already made Himself known to us His desire to strip us of our pains, torments, imperfections, and to bring us to salvation, yet how often do we choose to approach? More oft than not, this gift of free will is abused, in the act of sin, the denial of His existence, the abuse and violence against His church. Yet, even then, He is merciful, as Pascal wrote, granting those who desire to see Him enough light to do so, and those who do not, as Russell, Nietzsche, and many others, enough darkness to shrink from Him and hide.

It is thus amazing that we do not seek Him to beg for His gifts and mercy, He, the creator of the universe, of all that exists, He who desires, who wants to heal us, and complete us! Woe is my soul, seeking for earthly things, to ‘enjoy myself’ with parties, and human accolades, and selfish adventures, these transient pleasures, instead of the blessedness, the eudaimonia, the true happiness and peace that only He can give, and that He wishes to. Let us pray for the grace, for guidance of the Holy spirit to orientate us back onto the narrow path, seeking Christ, so that we may ask, ‘Domine, si vis, potes me mundare.’ So that, we may hear, ‘Volo. Mundare.’