A Sad Story

Jesus is The Light and Hope.

40 A leper[a] came to him [and kneeling down] begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” 41 Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” 42 The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. 43 Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. 44 Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” 45 The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.-Mark1:40-45

Today, with the advancement of science, technology and medicine, leprosy is no longer dreaded because there is already a cure. But prior to the discovery of its cure, when a person is diagnosed with leprosy, it spells doom. It is death sentence. I was privileged to be in a pastoral exposure in a former leper colony. The colony is now a very typical sea-side community, very normal, gradually progressing. One interaction with an old lady tore my heart. I cannot remember her name, but let us call her Anna and this is her story.

"It was after the second world war, maybe in the 50s or 60s. I had a husband and a son. We lived happily, and very much contented with the little that we have. One day, I was ill. I went to the hospital and was unfortunately diagnosed with leprosy. My husband suddenly changed. He was no longer the loving husband I knew. He kept distance and showed no interest in me. He wouldn't come near me nor let my child come near me. The pains in the heart are more terrible than the wounds. I have become an outcast and a loathsome creature in my community and in my own home. I heard about the leper colony somewhere in a coastal island. They said the sea breeze, the waters and the medicines there truly help the patients. There I went on a boat loaded with lepers like myself. At the hospital, the stench is indescribable. The agony of the patients is indescribable. But I do not want to be like them. I do not want to smell and rot. I do not want to be loathed at. Despite my own extreme pain, I always crawl into the bathrooms, and bathe myself with laundry soap. It was painful to my perpetually fresh wounds, but I endured it. Nobody would take care of me or give me a bath because the doctors and nurses are never enough for all of us. There are religious men and women to help, but still they are not enough to care for all of us inflicted with leprosy. When I was so weak I can no longer help myself to eat, I thought that that will be the end of me since there's nobody to help me. But God gave me a helper and his name is Rod. Rod is a leper too. Despite his own wounds and pains, he took care of me. It's very funny because he would chew the food, then he would spit it out then spoon-fed me with it. All that I have to do is simply swallow it. Rod never left me since those days. Eventually I, along with the rest, got healed of this disease when cure is finally discovered. I tried to go back to my husband and child, but I no longer heard from them. Rod is now my family."

The leper in the Gospel reading is healed physically, emotionally and socially. His joy is definitely beyond words. Perhaps, everything is hopeless, dark, sad and bitter until Jesus came along, healed him and restored him to life. God's invitation for us all is to be compassionate to the sick and the needy. Let us all be "lights" and agents of hope and love to them.

Image courtesy: Christian Pilgrim