Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean

1 Jn 5,5-13; Ps 147; Lk 5,12-16
11 JANUARY
Jesus is the Crucifix that teaches every man that, when in his heart there is a very pure love for our heavenly Father, we can live every cross, provided we draw strength in his grace and light in his truth. When we are rich in faith and love in the Lord and for the Lord, even leprosy can be lived, making it a sacrifice for the redemption of the world. All the miracles of Jesus are a sign that must lead the heart both of those who receive it and of those who attend them to open themselves to faith in his Word. His is the only Word of truth, justice, charity, light, love and hope. Without faith in the Word of Christ the Lord, true hope might never be born in a heart and even the slightest suffering becomes the cause of despair. If there is much despair in the world today, the cause is the loss of true faith in the Word. As foolish Christians we removed the Word of Christ from the candlestick and in its place we placed ours, ignoring that ours is the word of idolatry, immorality, wickedness, abomination, wickedness, concupiscence and disruption of all eternal moral principles. We have even transformed conversion to Christ and the Gospel into an agreement, understanding, treaty and compromise among men. It is as if Christ Jesus, his Gospel and his Word no longer belonged to his Church. Word without Christ, religion without truth, truth without Church, Christ without Church and Church without Christ.

The leper asks Jesus with great humility to recover from his illness. Jesus lends his hand and heals him. He orders him not to tell anyone. Instead, he must go to the priest because he is the one who must perform the rite of purification according to the Law. However, the miracle does not remain hidden. The good news spreads. The crowds flock both to hear his preaching and to be healed and cured by him. This affluence in order to obtain miracles meant that Jesus withdrew to deserted places and prayed there. Why this continuous withdrawal of Jesus? It is moved by the Holy Spirit. The crowds must be well governed. An ungoverned crowd can ruin all the work of salvation and redemption. At that time it was very easy to create false illusions and even riots that often ended up in the blood. Instead, Jesus knows how to well govern the crowds. He knows when to be present and when to stay away. When to operate and when to withdraw. Thus by acting with all the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, never the ungovernable and unpredictable happened around him. Thus He turned out to be true Lord not only on nature, on impure spirits and on diseases, but also on the crowds.

Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do will it. Be made clean.” And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but “Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.

If today there is a sin in the disciples of the Lord it is their passivity before the crowds. It seems we are more governed by the crowds, their needs, their desires than by the Holy Spirit. Nothing in the disciple of Jesus must take place by the motion of his heart or by the thrust of men. Everything in him must be by inspiration, motion, guidance and conduction of the Spirit of God. If the Spirit commands a work, it must be done. If he does not command it, it must not be done. If Jesus receives the order to do a miracle, He does it. If the Spirit commands him not to do any miracles, He does not do any. If the Spirit sends him to preach elsewhere, He goes elsewhere. No one has ever governed Jesus. Only the Father is his Lord in the communion of the Holy Spirit. This truth must never be forgotten and neglected by us. We must always ask the Spirit what he wants us to do. We withdraw into prayer, the Spirit speaks to our spirit, we place ourselves in an immediate obedience to his will.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, make us obedient to every will of the Spirit of the Lord.