Be Thou Made Clean
Gospel Reflection for February 11, 2024 - Mark 1:40-45
Then a leper came up to him, asking for his aid; he knelt at his feet and said, If it be thy will, thou hast power to make me clean. Jesus was moved with pity; he held out his hand and touched him, and said, It is my will; be thou made clean. And at the word, the leprosy all at once left him, and he was cleansed. And he spoke to him threateningly, and sent him away there and then: Be sure thou dost not speak of this at all, he said, to anyone; away with thee, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift for thy cleansing which Moses ordained, to make the truth known to them. But he, as soon as he had gone away, began to talk publicly and spread the story round; so that Jesus could no longer go into any of the cities openly, but dwelt in lonely places apart; and still from every side they came to him. (Mark 1:40-45 Knox Translation)
The readings for today, particularly the first reading and the Gospel, relate to a point which I would like to make for this final Sunday before Lent. These readings deal with leprosy, both as a physical disease for which the Israelites in the ancient world had no medical knowledge or cure and so were careful to avoid, and as a symbol of spiritual uncleanness and impurity, especially through its connection to death as an effect of original sin. This is why, even after the leper was healed physically, Christ still recommended for him to undergo the rite of spiritual cleansing prescribed by Moses.
The point I would like to focus on in this reflection relates to leprosy in its physical and spiritual senses. After my conversion, I loved the Mass. I studied it, participated interiorly and even at times became emotional during the liturgy. Yet from early on, I felt that it was not exactly as it should be, though I could not precisely place my discomfort. Over time, as I studied more deeply, I realized that my discomfort was based in the Novus Ordo, particularly its departures from the traditional form of the Mass throughout its first 1900 years - not out of any belief that this somehow invalidated the liturgy, which I have never believed, but because it detracted from the authenticity, beauty and reverence of the liturgy itself. The acts of irreverence I routinely saw, even at my parish which was quite traditional and filled with many devout Catholics, including a very holy priest, I understood to depend not exclusively on the dispositions of the participants but on the standard form of the rite itself.
This, however, is not the main point I want to make. Rather, I want to talk about how my first ten-odd years as a Catholic culminated in my experience of the Covid pandemic of 2020 and beyond. Before this time, the discomfort I had felt had never overwhelmed my reverence, participation and love for the Mass. But during the pandemic, when churches were closed - even after government shutdowns were lifted, when the Eucharist was routinely profaned by absurd attempts at cleanliness, when it became somehow 'cleaner' to receive on the hand and so receiving on the tongue was prohibited, when last rites were withheld from the dying because of the cowardice of priests or the politically correct restrictions of their bishops, when even at my own good parish people could listen to Mass in the parking lot on the radio and come inside only to receive the Eucharist before departing, or when a visiting priest suspended Mass halfway through and distributed the Eucharist afterwards as though this made it 'safer.' Masks were required to even attend Mass once churches were reopened, yet the singers in my choir removed their masks to sing while all of us had to keep ours on and were told not to sing. My priest, as an affront to his intelligence, had to wear a mask while confecting the Eucharist but could take it off while preaching his homily. Holy water was removed, drive-thru confessions were instituted, and seating limits within the church led to somehow 'safer' gatherings outside for Mass.
All of this, which all of you also experienced and perhaps with even greater abuses, was directly commanded by the bishops, whose purposes were many and vague. Some, I think, wanted to be politically correct, but the problem for most of them went even deeper. My local bishop at the time said that the "brute necessities of life" came before attending Mass. In other words, bodily health and safety is more important than eternal life - what other way is there to interpret it? It is the same mentality which led the government to close down churches as 'non-essential'. To make matters worse, some traditional Catholics who were afraid of contracting the virus were then persecuted by their fellow traditionalists who ridiculed their fears. On one side, Catholics who cave to worldly pressures and withhold the Sacraments while persecuting Catholics who disobey; on the other, Catholics who mock and dismiss those who, for the sake of their families, wanted to obey the bishops and avoid going to Mass due to the climate of fear created by the pandemic. Within this maelstrom, countless people lost their jobs and even their lives due to the artificial measures enforced by the government, most of which have proven to be unnecessary or even harmful. All the while, the Church essentially swam with the stream.
I bring this up, and I will say it is difficult for me to discuss, because attending Mass has since the pandemic become a kind of penance for me. Even though the restrictions have been lifted, I find it hard to motivate myself to use holy water, to join in the singing or to feel the same level of love I once felt for the Mass. I still love Our Lord in the Eucharist, whose divine presence can never be diminished by human sin or unreason, but the memory of 2020 hangs over me, and even now, during the inevitable sign of peace, people still do not shake hands, despite breathing within two feet of one another, and the numbers at churches across the country have not returned to their pre-pandemic levels, which is logical considering people were told that going to Mass is only necessary if your bodily comfort is not at risk, and if so, you can just watch on TV.
As my colleagues said in their Missio Dei YouTube video, there can be no true Eucharistic Revival so long as all of these acts of cowardice, unreason and even sacrilege are simply swept under the carpet. Like the leper in our Gospel today, we must all kneel before God and beg Him to make us clean, in every sense. This Lent, as part of our annual sacrifices, offer to God any kind of bitterness or resentment you feel, especially towards the Church and her leaders, and ask Our Lord to remind you, as I will, that He alone is the one thing necessary - known and united with in the Church He established and the Deposit of Faith He gave to us, but still above any merely human individual or action - that He must be the one great love in our heart above all others, no matter what distractions or disappointments Satan may use to try and adulterate us from Him.
I wish you all a joyous and efficacious Lent! God bless!
This is really beautiful. How sorely we often miss the mark when we perceive injustice and moral cowardice.
Wonderful reflection Kaleb, as always, but so sad. How could we have so gravely and seriously lost our way? I pray that we have a renewal of epic proportions, can refrain from any type of negative blaming/finger-pointing and ask for forgiveness and strength to move on.