"I do will it. Be made clean....Jesus remained outside in deserted places."
During the time of the Old Testament, and in Jesus' day, people with leprosy were banished from the worshiping community and had to live outside the camp. This was due to the fact that leprosy was highly contagious, and so left those with it ceremonially unclean.
We have a far greater problem because we have the leprosy of sin, which if mortal, makes us spiritually unclean and banishes us from God and the worshiping community, which is the Church. But the good news is when we turn to Christ in repentance in the sacrament of Reconciliation, he says to us the same thing he said to the leper in today's Gospel, "I do will it. Be made clean." This act of mercy on Christ's part cleanses us of our uncleanness and unites us to God and the Church.
The reason why Christ can cleanse us of the leprosy of sin is because he identified with us or put himself in our camp when he went to Golgotha, that place of crucifixion, which was outside the city of Jerusalem. In other words, Christ became an unclean sin offering, so that he might cleanse us of the sins that make us unclean.
May God give us the grace to repent of our sins and to keep us without spot or blemish before him.
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