6th Sunday of Ordinary time, Our Lady of Lourdes, World Day of the Sick - Homily of Bp Paolo

At the center of the word of God that was proclaimed is an extraordinary healing of a leper by Jesus. In Jesus' time, leprosy was not considered a disease like any other. It led to social isolation and the patient had to distance themselves from other people. In the first reading we heard how was considered a leper, as impure, as condemned. No one had to deal with a leper. The leper was not supposed to come near people and the people were supposed to keep the leper at a distance. In some way, because of its destructive power on the body of the sick, leprosy was symbolically compared to the corruption that sin causes in the person's heart.

Jesus' encounter with the leper is full of tenderness and hope. Even before considering the healing that Jesus brings on the leper, we must look at the attitude of Jesus who does not reject the closeness of the leper. Jesus welcomes him and listens to him. The leper expresses his profound desire to be healed and to be able to return to live with his family and have a peaceful social life. 
Jesus does not reject him. He shows him compassion and closeness. Going against the rules of that time, He stands with him to talk to him. Jesus expresses his will for the leper to be healed. And he even touches the leper with his hand to heal him. 

Immediately the leper was healed and Jesus invites him to fulfill the law of Moses, by showing himself to the priest, to be welcomed back into social life. In fact, the leper who is healed now is filled with an uncontainable joy. Even though Jesus told him not to tell anyone about his healing, he proclaims everyone about his healing experience. The healed leper is a man reborn to a new life who returns to fully live his social relationships with profound gratitude for the miracle received. As Saint Paul says in the second reading, this man lives and does everything now for the glory of God. And we too can learn to live every circumstance of life to give thanks to the Lord and do everything in his name.

Dear brothers and sisters, this gospel allows us to understand the importance of this Sunday, February 11, on which we celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes and the World Day of the Sick. Precisely the experience of the leper recounted in the Gospel makes us understand that when a sick person asks for healing, he never asks only for something that concerns his body but also his soul, his whole person. When a sick person asks the doctor to be healed, he is not only asking for the health of his body but also for the salvation of his entire person. In fact, a sick person needs not only medical care but the closeness of the loved ones. The patient needs to feel loved and to discover that his life is not simply a burden or useless. His life is precious in the eyes of the Lord. Every sick person needs to feel the closeness of their family and friends. We all need to experience that our life has a meaning that never ends; there is a love stronger than death.
Therefore, in every request for healing it is always at the same time a question of salvation and love, a question of relationship and friendship. From this perspective, even those who are physically healthy have the same question in their hearts as those who are sick: the question of being able to love and be loved, to live forever and overcome death.

While it is certainly important that there is always adequate care for all the sick, we must also remember that what truly heals is the heart with love. God's love heals and restores not only the body but all of life. Jesus himself, with the physical healing of the sick, opens the heart towards a deeper healing: the healing of the heart.
On this Sunday, remembering all the sick, let us pray for them, let us never forget them but let us show them closeness and tenderness. We also pray for all those who work in the world of health, nurses and doctors so that they know how to treat the sick with a profound sense of humanity, remembering that the sick are children of God and are in need of not only medical care but above all understanding and love.
May Our Lady of Lourdes bring consolation to all those who are marked by illness and support them in their tribulation. May the Mother of God, health of the sick, keep everyone in the love of God.