Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel tells the story of Jesus curing a leper. Leprosy at the time of Jesus sent its victims into exile from the community, a disease that identified persons with leprosy as unclean. The designation of “clean” and “unclean” continues to serve in most societies as a designation of social acceptability. In college life, popularity serves as a modified version of who is “clean” or socially acceptable for the predominant group. One of the great traits of Christianity was their acceptance of persons who were “unclean.” The early Christian community was comprised of socially unacceptable persons, particularly women and poor people, a group that gave the Roman authority what they considered just cause for suspicion of this new movement. Christianity has always striven to incorporate the socially unacceptable, not just for the purpose of inclusion but for conversion. Keeping constantly in mind the dignity of the individual as made in the image and likeness of God, the Christian faith early on saw inclusion not simply as acceptance but an opportunity to develop that dignity to its fullest possible extent.