Br. Shimbo Pastory, C.S.Sp.
This article was published in The Scottish Catholic, Scotland’s Catholic Magazine, Issue 12, 25th March, 2022, page 14.
One evening while having supper in our community, a confrere uttered a statement that called me to reflection. It was a concluding line of a touching story we shared. He deeply breathed in and said: “… we are all lepers.”
The term leper may not be the best to some, as there is no cure for leprosy; but here, it serves the purpose as it reminds us of the need to continue persevering and hoping for God’s healing, guidance, care and support in our lives.
Human weakness, be it physical or spiritual humbles us and calls us to accept ourselves as frail beings. As such, just like lepers, we could hide our leprosy-stricken hands and feet, but the fact that the leprosy is not seen does in no way take it away from us.
As pride and ego are part of the human person, we often renounce weakness and glorify strength. This is why the Pharisee went right in front of the sanctuary as the Scripture has it “to say a prayer to himself” (Luke 18:11).
It would have been a prayer to God, but because he sought to justify and glorify himself, placing himself above another ‘leper’ like himself, it was not a good prayer.
If accepted, the sad reality that we are not perfect helps us to gather strength and strive to attain perfection. It becomes the motivation to stay put.
We feel moved to be better by the humble acceptance of not being good enough, not by self-consolation that virtuous acts and observances suffice for a fair exchange with what God rewards, regardless of the amount of effort invested in view of making oneself better than yesterday.
We do not need to blame ourselves for not being good because we are all lepers. In the contrary what we need to do is to take responsibility and embrace the narrow path that allows us growth, peace, joy and fulfilment.
It is worthwhile examining, especially during this Lenten season whether we are cooperating with God’s grace by genuinely making effort to avoid sin, to pray, to be docile in discerning his will in our lives (Eph. 5:15-20), to come closer to him (cf. James 4:7-10), to embrace virtue (Phil. 4:8), and to nurture the seed of holiness deep within us (cf. II Tim. 1:9).
The ten lepers were not healed instantly but by a disposition of faith and a willful act of obedience. Jesus asked them to go and see the priests, and they were healed on their way (Luke 17:11-19). They had choice to either go or not.
This makes me think that every human weakness, every leprosy each one struggles with has an antidote, which is faith. Going with faith where we are sent, doing in faith what we are as faithful Christians called to do, and witnessing in truth and confidence what we believe.
When we say “We are all lepers”, it is not an unapologetic utterance justifying mediocrity in leading our Christian life. It is a confession that we are God’s work in progress, it is nothing shameful.
We are like marble in the hands of a skilled sculptor who chisels chips out of us daily, and sometimes painfully, just to make with time, a beautiful creation of his, modelled in his own holiness and perfection.
In his Lenten message this year, Pope Francis emphasizes the significance of persistence, not growing tired of doing what is good. The fight continues. He mentions other things which are eternally part of our Christian struggle: constant effort to uproot evil, asking for forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, charity, fighting against concupiscence and selfishness.
The corporal fasting needs to lead us to deeper reflection of the spiritual reality of the greatest commandment of love that Christ gave us. Denying ourselves what we love most should remind us of the situation of those who daily live in lack, want, deficiency or total starvation. Our leprosy should be a source and motivation for prayer, charity, strength and spiritual growth.
To end with, the reality of everyone’s weakness should sound a clarion call to accommodate and respect other people: rich or poor, young or old, of all races and walks of life, we are all on the same boat hoping at the dusk of fate to attain eternal life. We should be lepers that witness to the gospel, lepers that go back to Jesus to thank him, lepers that help others grow.
Br. Shimbo Pastory, C.S.Sp. is a member of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (Spiritans) originally from the Province of Tanzania, E.A. He is currently undertaking pastoral and mission work experience in the UK under the Spiritan British Province.