BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Lev.13:1-2,44-46; Ps.32; 1 Cor.10:31-11:1; Mk.1:40-45

Where do you usually go when you are sick? If you are physically sick, you go to the hospital to see your doctor. If you are spiritually sick, you go to Church and find a priest for Confession. Well, yesterday was Valentine’s Day. For those of you who are heartbroken due to a separation, you would probably go to Sagada and shout to the top of your voice, “Ayoko na! Pagod na pagod na ako!” (I give up! I am already dead tired) For those who were loveless yesterday, probably, you were together with me lining up in the firing squad. When we are sick, we always look for somebody who can at least lessen the pain which we are experiencing.

In our Gospel we meet a leper who came to Jesus begging for cure. He was not only physically sick but socially excluded from the community. He has no one to turn to for even the Law of Moses on leprosy as mentioned in our first reading failed him. The Mosaic Law did not give instructions on how to get the cure for leprosy. It simply protected the community from becoming unclean because of the presence of lepers.

And so, he cannot but turn to Jesus, whom he probably heard through those who were healed by him. Since Jesus never fails anyone like the four thousand people in our Gospel yesterday, out of pity, he did not only clean but healed the man from his leprosy.

This is our first challenge this Sunday: that we turn to Jesus and focus ourselves on his loving mercy especially when days become dark and burdensome. When we are sick be it physically, spiritually, or emotionally, let us not turn to “apparent healers” like drugs, drinks, and violence, but only to Jesus the fount of living water.

In our first reading, Moses was instructed that anyone who is unclean “shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” Thus, the unclean becomes isolated from the community. Today, leprosy is curable. However, there is another leprosy which continues to thrive in our lives and when afflicted isolates us from the People of God. This is called the leprosy of sin. What makes this leprosy pleasing to our lives is that they appear beautiful and seem to taste good. Only later do we realize that it has eaten up our souls. That is why for us to get cured from such leprosy, it is not enough to simply turn to Jesus and all else will be okay. We have to renew such commitment to our Lord daily as St. Paul puts it in our second reading, whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we do everything for the glory of God. And in the end, we become imitators of Christ. Only when we become imitators of Christ that the leprosy of sin can no longer creep in our lives for it is no longer we, but Christ who is living in us.

And so, as we begin the season of Lent this coming February 18 with the marking of our foreheads with ashes, may we be reminded of two things: that we go always to Jesus for only in Him can our leprous selves find ultimate healing. We are assured of his healing for as Pope Francis reminds us, “the cross of Christ is the supreme act of God’s solidarity with us, completely free and abounding in mercy.”

We usually find in a corner of a building a red box with the words, “Break Glass in case of Emergency.” When disaster strikes, we have to look for that box so that we will all be safe and saved. In our spiritual life, when tough times come, we also need to look for that red box with the words, “Break Glass in case of Emergency.” However, the important question is: “What’s inside the glass?...Who’s inside the box?” Amen. 

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