Lev 13:1-2, 44-46; Ps: 32:1-2, 5, 11; 1 Cor. 10:31-11:1; Mk 1:40-45

People pleaser, “please!”  “Avoid giving offense…try to please everyone in every way”.  Really Paul, please!  Have you taken a look at the world lately with all of its demands and self-centered greed?  What is Paul speaking about in context? We read scripture in context both literal and historical, and spiritual, and allegorical, and poetical, and prophetic. Paul is instructing us on living our purpose of life to the greatest devotion of pleasing who? We please God through our service to others seeking to do good as “imitators” of Christ.  This is not a teaching on being the “doormat” for the demands of the world and those who carry malfeasance in their hearts.  If read only literally you might misinterpret the message. This is a calling to never grow weary of doing what is right, just, and honorable for the greater glory of God. 

It is right…to follow the commands of the Lord who first calls Moses and Aaron to separate the “leprous and unclean” for the protection of others until being made clean.  In the literal sense this made sense to control the spread of a disease that had no cure.  This was their pandemic, their sentence to death. Imagine treating COVID-19 this way. The government comes to take you out of your home to a camp never to see your family again. It happened in this world. In the same manner in the literal sense Jesus makes the leper clean and welcomes him back into the “camp” of the clean with the greater spiritual sense of the separation that must come for the sinner from his sins to be made clean and return to please God.  This is a reminder in the prophetic sense, the “unclean” sinner cannot enter into heaven until being made clean by the washing in the blood and water of the mercy of Jesus.  It is the water of baptism and the blood of the cross that pleases the Lord when we come to him with the words, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  It pleases the Lord to make us clean in spirit and heal our brokenhearted souls.  It pleases everyone in heaven and earth, which is the church triumphant in heaven, church suffering in purgatory and church militant on earth to live what is right in the eyes of the Lord. Be righteous!

It is just…in the moral sense “to confess my faults to the Lord” who alone “took away the guilt of my sin” and returns us into the “camp” of the just not by our works but by the justification of his love and mercy.  If through the disobedience of mankind, we are separated from God then only through the obedience of his word can we be justified and made clean.  The Lord sees the leprosy of sin that lie within which in confession opens us up to receive his grace of forgiveness from a loving Father waiting for our honest return to his sacred heart.  It pleases everyone in heaven and earth within the three stages of the church to live what is just and holy in the eyes of the Lord. Everyone is for justice but not everyone’s eyes see justice the same way. People can be on opposite sides of an issue yet both claim justice. True justice comes from the Lord. Seek divine justice. Be just!

It is honorable…in the literal and spiritual sense “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”  Literally we are to live for the Lord and allow our every action be an offering to build up his kingdom beginning with how we care for his temple in our body.  What our bodies suffer our soul and spirit suffers and with it, Jesus who comes to make his abode in us suffers.  Spiritually we are to consume his word and literally feed on his body and blood that it may become incarnated into our being.  This gives honor to the Lord most especially in the celebration of the Mass.  Who do we honor by our actions? The world, money fame, pride, or our family, the poor, the suffering are being honored. Let our actions give glory to God in all things.  It pleases everyone in heaven and earth within the universal church to live in honor of the kingdom of God.  Be honorable!

When the leper was made clean by Jesus, he directed him to the “priest” to make an “offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed”.  Jesus in confession cleanses us of our sins and the priest gives us absolution with a penance as an “offer” of thanksgiving for the forgiveness of our sins.  Jesus came to make all things new not by doing away with the old but by revelation of the old in the new that fulfills the law and the prophets.  He is the judge of all that is right, just, and honorable to the Lord.  In “time of trouble” the Lord lifts up the brokenhearted and gives us the “joy of salvation”.  Be blessed! Blessing come to those who listen to the Lord, follow his commands, live to serve what is right, just, and honorable.

As we approach Ash Wednesday and follow the norms of the church for the following forty days, Jesus waits for us to be present to him as he is to us, that is vigilant in our readiness to respond to his calling with the true offering he seeks, the gift of ourselves that we may be made clean, renewed in spirit and truth to the wonders of his love.  Salvation is here.  Be present! 

What is love? God is love. God is all that is right, just honorable blessing those who follow his ways. God is the gift of himself who keeps on giving. Happy Valentines God for the gift of love and happy Valentines to all for the gift of sharing.