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Both the First Reading and the Gospel today speak about leprosy. It was a common affliction back in the time of Jesus, with no known cure, which was associated with suffering, both physical and separation from the community, including the possibility of death. The readings also demonstrate God’s loving mercy in the form of miracle cures for Naaman and the Samaritan. Miracles abounding around us is of course a key point of the readings, but there is a much deeper meaning then what we see on the surface.

These readings refer to all of us. Even though we do not have physical leprosy, we suffer from spiritual leprosy. We have something that left untreated will lead to our spiritual suffering and death. We all have something that is a thorn in our side, something that eats away at us, something that is unsettling deep within us, right down to our core. But God is ready to work miracles in our lives if we have faith and are open to honest self assessment and awareness of the leprosy that is eating away at us.

Be honest with yourself, what is it, what eats at you? We must let go of what some will say is one of the greatest sins, the one that drives our actions or inaction, which is the sin of pride. We must humble ourselves before God as Naaman and the Samaritan did. This first step is crucial. We must humble ourselves before we can see the truth about ourselves. This process of becoming self aware of our leprosy is a gift from God, and if achieved could be counted as one of the many miracles we sometimes fail to recognize.

So many people are blinded by expecting life to be governed by their own personal will. They believe that if their life is governed by their will that it will lead them down the road to achieve happiness because no one knows better than them what will make them happy. This never leads to true peace and happiness. As St. Augustan has said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee”.

Only when we live our lives according to the will of God will we experience the true meaning of free will choice and the road to peace. That may sound contradictory. How can we have free will if we follow the will of God? That is His will, not ours. Before you come to what might seem an obvious answer to that question, find the truth by striving to come to know God’s will for you, then compare it to yours. As it says in Mark 4:9; “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”

Here is an example:  A group of top scientists approaches God and declares, “We’ve figured it all out. We don’t need you anymore. We can create our own human life.” God, amused, says, “That’s very interesting. Why don’t we have a contest? You create a human, and I’ll create one, and we’ll see whose is better.” The lead scientist agrees, “Sounds fair. We’ll even give you a head start.” “Oh no,” says God, “we’ll start at the same time.” The scientist bends down and reaches for a handful of dirt to begin. God stops him and says, “Ah, ah, ah. Get your own dirt.”

When you look at the basics, there is nothing that exists without God’s handiwork. He is the fundamental building block of all things. Like it or not there is nothing without God willing it into existence.

We fight this reality due to our arrogance that stems from our desire to want the best that life can offer us and our inflated ego that we know best how to achieve it. There is nothing wrong with wanting the best that life can offer, but we falter when we believe we can achieve it on our own, that we know best and don’t need any help.

The reality is we are looking for answers in all the wrong places. We must be willing to include God in this quest. It is a life long journey of discovery. In this discovery process we will find that God’s will for us is far greater than we could ever imagine for ourselves. It is realized when we choose to align our will with the will of God. That is the free will choice that leads to the true fulfillment of all desire, for there is nothing we could ever want or desire that is greater than what God wants for us.

We must not fall into the worldly traps of what a materialistic world would call happiness. When we get wrapped up in it we have a tendency to believe that we don’t need God, we believe we have the world under our control. It is when things go haywire, when we have no idea how to control what is happening in our lives when we all of a sudden reach out to God for help. It is the low times in our lives that we find out what truly matters. The journey of the sorrows we experience in the crosses we must bear in life leads us to a rebirth, a resurrection to a new life with our Lord and God, a new beginning or deepening of our personal relationship with God.

Now lets go back to the question of what leprosy do you have? We need to look at our personal leprosy as an opportunity to start or strengthen our personal relationship with God. What eats away at you deep within your core? Bring that leprosy to Jesus and ask for his healing. We must humble ourselves, realize that we need God in our lives, bring all things to Him, rest in Him and begin to experience true peace in your life. Don’t let pride get in the way. Be honest with yourself and with humility acknowledge it and ask to be healed. You may just find that a miracle will occur, the miracle of feeling free from that leprosy and opening up a new life in the freedom of God’s loving mercy.

When this happens, when the miracles, both big and small occur in your life, and they will if you put your complete faith in the Lord, don’t neglect to glorify Him as the nine lepers did. Glorify God by giving thanks to God, knowing that His will and love for you is greater than you could have ever imagined.