Of earth and gratitude

Naaman the Aramean bathes in the Jordan River at the behest of Elisha the prophet to cure Naaman's leprosy only after an argument and the pleading of Naaman's retinue. He is insulted by the proposal. There are far greater rivers in Aram. Why should he bother with the small stream known as the Jordan? Still he does. He is cured. And now he recognizes the God of Israel as his own.

Jesus heals ten lepers who appealed to his goodness and ministry. Ten lepers obey him by going their way only to recognize healing within themselves. One leper is so astonished that he returns to Jesus in gratitude. Where are the others, Jesus asks? The one who returned is a foreigner. There is a note of disappointment in Jesus as he realizes that none of his own returned to thank him.

Naaman the Aramean recognized more than just his own physical healing. Naaman recognized that he had encountered the God of Israel. So he asked Elisha the prophet for the privilege of removing two mule loads of earth to take with him back to Aram. He will now worship only the God of Israeli earth.

The leper who returned to Jesus likewise encountered God, this time God as seen in Jesus Christ. He too acknowledged not only that he was cured but that he had also encountered someone more powerful and greater than he. He met Christ and that changed his life.

In the sacrament of penance we focus so much on our sins and sinfulness that we forget the most important aspect of the sacrament. Ridding ourselves of sin is only the first step. Too often we fail to recognize that we meet Christ in the sacrament, in this encounter. Too often we fail to grasp the mercy and consolation that Jesus brings to us when we give over to him our sins. Mostly we are anxious about speaking the words to the confessor lest we become known. Yet Jesus wants to know us, to know our sins, so that he can forget them.

When her confessor refused to believe St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's visions promoting the Sacred Heart, he asked her to have Jesus reveal what he told his own confessor in his last confession as proof of her visions. St. Margaret Mary returned to her confessor and startled him by announcing that Jesus had forgotten his sins thus convincing the confessor that St. Margaret Mary was truthful.

There is a kind of aberration within us. We are anxious about revealing our sinfulness and yet there is a part of us that wants the world to know our sinfulness. We know this from the hundreds of self-revelations we witness on various kinds of television talk shows. We strive to entertain strangers with our defects.

The leper returned to Jesus and was grateful to him. This is the most important part of the story. It is our encounter with Jesus that takes priority and not the verbal laundry list of sins we present to him.