A recommendation that you’ve probably heard from your employer or health care provider is to have preventative medical check-ups. That’s because, often times when you can catch a medical problem early, it’s easier and less expensive to fix.

A common guideline given for adults is to have:

1. A semi-annual dental exam
2. An annual eye exam
3. An annual physical exam,
4. And lately it’s suggested to have an annual skin

Yes, with the increase in skin cancer, it is highly recommended to have an annual full-body scan to identify and treat places that look pre-cancerous.

I’ve been doing this for years now and just went Thursday for my annual exam. Well, Doctor found a few spots on my head that didn’t look just right so she froze them with liquid nitrogen … killing any malignant cells that were there.

The healing process takes approximately two weeks ... while the spots on your skin turn bright red ... then scab over ... and finally return to looking normal.

Having blemishes on your face or hands is different than having them on any other part of your body because the blemishes are out there for all to see; it’s embarrassing.

If you’ve ever had pimples as a teenager or a cold sore on your lip or

a sty in your eye or a shaving cut or a wound or skin treatment on your face

or hands, then you know what I mean.

Having unwanted marks on your face can make you very self-conscious.

You don’t want them there because they disfigure your appearance and

you find yourself willing to do whatever it takes to cover them & get rid of them.

Having a blemish or a wound or a sore ... anywhere else on our body isn’t as bad because we can hide it with our clothes, but having a blemish exposed that people can see, moves us to seek speedy help to remedy the defect.

We hear about skin defects in two of our readings today... in both the Old Testament

book of Leviticus  ... and the New Testament Gospel of Mark ...

we hear of the dreaded skin disease of leprosy.

Leprosy was a highly contagious and disfiguring disease for which there is no cure. 

God’s instruction to the Chosen People under the Old Covenant with Moses was to go and show themselves to the Priest because the Priest had the responsibility to declare the person either clean or unclean.

People went to the Priest ... not for cure ... just for diagnosis!

All he could do was to judge whether they were clean or unclean ... and if unclean send them off to a place where ... they would remain ... separated and unclean.

Scripture said today, "The one who bears the sore of leprosy … shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” How sad!  No cure ... just separation … forever

Now compare that to our Gospel reading,

where a man with Leprosy goes to Jesus ... and is healed instantly!

You see, the Priests of the Old Covenant didn’t have the power to heal the disease, but Jesus, the eternal High Priest of the New and Eternal Covenant, definitely did And Jesus used His power to cure the disease with his touch.

Mark tells us, “moved with pity, (Jesus) stretched out his hand and touched (the leper, (and) immediately … he was made clean.” 

Who would do that?

Who would reach out and touch someone with a highly contagious disease?

It would have to be someone with a deep love for the unclean person …

someone who was more intent on bringing remedy than on concern for himself.

We saw this very thing in the movie classic, Ben-Hur ...

where Charlton Heston’s mother and sister both developed leprosy when they were unjustly put in prison for years and were banished to the Valley of the Lepers.

When Charlton Heston found this out, he went right into the caves looking until he found them, then he picked up his sister and carried her out in his arms.

Why would he do that?     Love!

Love made him more intent on bringing her remedy than on concern for himself.

As Ben-Hur enters the city of Jerusalem, he comes upon Jesus, who has fallen while carrying his cross on the way to Calvary. Ben-Hur sets his sister down and brings Jesus with a cup of water, and Jesus touches his hands to receive it.

In the final scene, we see Ben-Hur’s Mother & Sister, Mariam and Tearsa are miraculously healed of their Leprosy … healed by the power of Jesus … who touched them through the loving touch of Ben-Hur offering Jesus water!

All through the Gospels we hear how Jesus reached out and touched the sick and made them well. He did it out of love. He did it when people trusted in His power.

Jesus, the Eternal High Priest has the power to make us well in every way.

Unlike the Priests of the Old Covenant, who were powerless to heal,

Jesus freely dispenses His healing power to all who approach Him.

In the Gospel, the Leper came to Jesus because he trusted in His power.

He said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”

Jesus responded, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

And it was done! His uncleanness was immediately made clean.

It’s this power of Jesus to make the unclean clean that we need to tap into often.

You see, all of us are unclean to various degrees ... in our souls.

Yes, all of us are sinners, who have varying degrees of selfishness, pride, and self-love that makes us less than reflective of God’s goodness and beauty.

If the blemishes on our soul were visible to us and to others,

then we’d be as anxious to remove them as if they were a blemish on our face!

And we’d want to know the treatment that would help us remain clean!

But, because the condition of our souls is hidden from others,

we’re often far less urgent about getting them healed ...

like we are with the blemishes we can cover by our clothes.

Well, Wisdom should move us to seek remedy for all sins on our soul ...

because while they may not be visible to other people, they are visible to God.

And so, as long as we have sin on our soul, we are unclean.

The words of God in Leviticus today ring true, “As long as the sore is on him

he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean.”

In a similar way, as long as the stain of sin is on our soul, we are in fact unclean.

And if we leave the uncleanness there, we could suffer a similar fate as foretold, where the unclean were sent to dwell apart, making their abode outside the camp.

This would certainly describe the many references to the souls in Purgatory or Hell, where people, who are unclean on the day they show themselves to the Priest, Jesus,

will be sent away … to dwell apart … outside the camp, the Kingdom of Heaven.

How much better for us to appear before Jesus, the High Priest, without blemish!

As we heard in Psalm 32 that we just prayed,

“Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.”

Through the power of Jesus Christ, our faults are indeed taken away,

and our sins are indeed covered ... by His Blood ... and we are healed.

But we have to ask for this to happen.

We have to approach Jesus with humility, with contrition and with trust.

Let’s realize that we need to be as concerned about the blemishes on our soul,

                                      as we are about the blemishes on our face!

Because we won’t be able to cover them and hide them forever.

If they should still be there when we arrive to see Jesus, the High Priest ...

He will see them and we may be sent away to have them taken care of.

That would be true loss. Both Purgatory and Hell would involve separation from God ... and continued suffering … one being temporary … one being eternal.

Jesus promises his healing touch to all who approach Him ...

in humility and sorrow and trusting in His power.

We need to be like the leper in today’s Gospel, and come to Jesus ...

regularly and often ... to let Him reach out and touch us and heal us.

That’s what happens when we go to the Sacrament of Confession, we get healed.

We all want to be clean.

Not just on our face, but everywhere.

So we need to set up and follow a regular schedule of checkups ...

a regular Physical exam

a regular Eye exam,

a regular Dental exam,

a regular Skin exam,

and a regular Soul exam.

I have a wonderful doctor to recommend. He is Jesus, the Divine Physician. He’s the Doctor of the Soul. He alone has the power to heal and make whole. And for our sakes He dispenses His power through His Priests in the Sacrament of Confession.

Let’s practice preventative medicine for our soul and have it examined regularly.

If we approach Jesus like the Leper saying, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”

We will hear Him say to us, “I do will it … be made clean!”