The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity AD 2024

Jesus healed many who were sick: paralyzed, blind, deaf, dumb, lepers… It is interesting that when the Bible speaks of the curing of lepers, it usually doesn’t use the word "to heal" but "to cleanse". Also, the lepers were the only ones who had to show themselves to the priests after being healed.

Leprosy, as a physical disease, is at the same time a symbol of a spiritual reality, namely sin, which burdens, defiles and destroys man, and from which we all need to be cleansed. Christ has bound the forgiveness of sins and cleansing from guilt to the promise He made to the apostles after His resurrection: „Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.“

Therefore, if we want to be sure that our sins are forgiven and our guilt is erased, we must „show ourselves to the priests“, like the lepers whom Jesus cleansed. Undoubtedly, reconciliation with God must begin with personal repentance and seeking the mercy of our good Lord in humble prayer, but since the authority to forgive sins belongs to Christ and His Church, true repentance must include confession and absolution whenever possible in the church.

However, our healing from sin and cleansing from guilt does not consist only in confession and absolution. As Jesus said to the former leper who came back to thank Him, He also says to us: „Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.“

We must rise – not just physically, but spiritually and morally. We must walk a new path, live a new life. We have to understand that if we don’t change our way of life, we will soon be at least as sick again as before, maybe much worse, even incurable. St. Paul says: „Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.“