When I was studying Nursing in the Philippines, one of our required clinical experiences was exposure to infectious diseases.  For one semester, we had rounds in a leprosarium where I witnessed first-hand the physical, emotional, and spiritual pains of patients with leprosy. The disease has been eliminated in many countries of the world because of modern scientific and medical breakthroughs. However, the social stigma and the difficulties that patients with leprosy face in our time are not so much different from those during the time of Jesus.

People regard leprosy as highly contagious. I remember how our neighbors, who did not even have medical background, expressed concern for me. They would give me unsolicited advise like not to sit in the place where patients had sat, to always maintain some physical distance, and many other things. Social perception about the disease is the primary reason that people with leprosy suffer from isolation.  Even their own families are afraid to be with them.

Leprosy is referred to several times in the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments.  Those who have leprosy were considered the lowest in society. They faced rejection, and they lived by begging on the streets.  People also believed that they were sinners and that the disease was a form of punishment for them.

We can understand why lepers raised their voices to Jesus and begged him to heal them. When Jesus heals the leper in today’s Gospel, he not only cures him physically but also brings him back to his community. Jesus frees him from the stigma that lepers were sinners and leprosy was a form of punishment.  Above all, He got the leper’s trust in God.

The leper’s plea for healing is also our plea to God in times of suffering and illness. But the question is, what if we don’t get the relief we want? I have met many people who experience various physical ailments, and each has longed and prayed for a cure. However, not all go back to physical health and recovery. Nevertheless, those who accept and surrender to God’s grace in times of vulnerability experience healing regardless of the severity or direction of their conditions.

The true meaning of healing is when a person experiences peace amid difficult situations, like an illness. Healing is a deeper and broader term involving restoration to life’s fullness. Healing does not only mean the restoration of physical health. Healing occurs when a person experiences spiritual comfort, acceptance, and peace over suffering or death. The reality is that we do not live in this world forever. At one point, the body goes back to its Maker. A peaceful death is the ultimate healing from God.

We do not delude ourselves into thinking that we must suffer or get sick to be closer to God. However, when it comes our way, we can use our sufferings as an opportunity to achieve more incredible things. God may use sickness to reflect on the meaning and purpose of our temporal existence. This situation, although challenging, may bring the sick, family, and community together in a deeper appreciation of their relationship with God.

Beyond a person’s struggles and efforts to regain health, something extraordinary does happen when the apprehension brought about by illness and death does not devastate one’s faith and hope to continue living one’s life to the fullest. Healing is achieved when the person and their loved ones express readiness to accept God’s plan, whether there is a physical cure or not. This may not be what most of us will consider a “miracle.” Still, the experience of having “inner peace” is an awe-inspiring effect of God’s grace, which transcends our ordinary human experiences. After all, we will pass this temporal world at the time God has allotted for us.

Whatever illness we encounter today, let us ask God for a physical cure, and we trust his healing grace.  But let us also remember that God’s healing is beyond the physical. Let us not forget that the entirety of healing is aimed towards the salvation of our souls.