28 June 1991
Montreal, Canada

My dear Confreres and my dear Sisters,

I invite you to enter into the mind of the leper as he made his journey to meet Jesus. It is certain that he would have had to make a journey, for as we know, lepers were obliged to live away from the local community. So, let us enter into this poor man's thoughts as he hobbled along the road to meet Jesus. "My condition is getting worse. I am growing weaker. My limbs are wasting away and are falling off. I do not see much hope for my future. If I am to live, I must do something. I must try something that I have not tried before. I have heard people talking about this marvelous man, Jesus of Nazareth. He has cured many people. I heard He cured ten lepers. Perhaps He would cure me. But how can I get close to Him? It means breaking the law if I go into a town to get close to Him. Then, even if I do get close to Him, perhaps He will repel me, in the same way as people repel and strike mosquitoes. However, I think He is a very compassionate man. He will feel sorry for my condition, and perhaps He will cure me--perhaps. Anyway it is worth trying. So I will keep on walking until I meet Him."

The leper who came to Jesus should not have come to Him. When he did come, Jesus felt compassion for him as He did for all those who came to be healed. He stretched out His hand and touched him. That in itself was a courageous gesture. "Be cured. And the leprosy left him at once." (Mt 8:3).

Jesus asked the leper not to speak about it, but the leper in his joy and exultation could not keep quiet. St. Mark in his Gospel observes that the leper told everybody about it "so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived." (Mk 1:45). We could say that, having cured a leper out of compassion, Jesus had to experience something of the solitude and loneliness which lepers experienced.

We here in modern cities do not meet people suffering from the physical disease of leprosy. We do, however, encounter very frequently nowadays people who suffer from the pain of solitude and loneliness. For some of our elderly people, loneliness could be described as the disease of our times. For you, Daughters of Charity, who are devoted to the service of the poor, the loneliness and solitude of the aged must be one of the modern forms of poverty which you are trying to alleviate.

Speaking to members of St. Vincent's Communities, I would like to make a passing reference to the fact that, even within our own communities, there can be members who suffer acutely from loneliness and solitude. Perhaps it is that we do not find some of the members of our community attractive persons, but then Jesus did not find the leper of today's Gospel a particularly attractive person, and yet He stretched out His hand and touched him. May God give us the grace of sharing the sentiments of the human Heart of Jesus Christ, so that we can stretch out our hands to touch, not only the poor and the outcasts of our society, but those who, within our own community, feel alone and isolated.

Frequently I have the privilege of visiting the sick Sisters in the Infirmary. To them I always express my gratitude for the prayers which they offer, not only for the Mother General, for me and all others who hold authority in our Community, but also for the prayers and sufferings they offer for the two families of St. Vincent. In my own Province, I knew a very saintly and good-humored Confrere who used to tell us at table that the only hope we Lazarists had of getting to heaven was through the prayers of the Daughters of Charity.