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His nice clothes, hair and beard that had helped cover the sores from his leprosy were all taken away.\u00a0 He was taken away from his Jewish community of believers.\u00a0 He was taken away from the temple, the holy dwelling place of God.\u00a0 He was even taken away from the sanctuary of his own home.\u00a0 He was taken away from his hometown to go to the leper colony.\u00a0 He was taken away from his family.\u00a0 Even his ability to blend in amongst strangers was taken away as he now had to scream \u201cunclean\u201d to notify approaching strangers about his disease.\u00a0 Imagine how completely empty this man\u2019s love tank must have felt. No one to spend time with as a companion, no one to give him a compliment, no one to give him a gift, no one to help care for him and no one to give him a loving touch. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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When everything that we\u2019ve built our lives around has been taken away from us, the decision we face is pretty clear: to either let this situation tear us apart from God or to let this situation bring us closer to God.\u00a0 We must realize it is at this very moment when we feel empty inside that room has been freed up in our lives for Jesus to become the center of our lives.\u00a0 It is precisely when we feel like God has placed us on the sidelines of His life that it is most important for us to place Jesus at the center of our lives.\u00a0 Jesus wants each of us to build our lives around Him.\u00a0 This is exactly what the man with leprosy does.\u00a0 This man goes to Jesus, kneels in front of Him and in the bright darkness of faith, he says to Jesus, \u201cif you wish, you can make me clean.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The next line in the Gospel is arguably the most understated line in the English translation of the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0 It says Jesus was \u201cmoved with pity.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMoved with pity.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s tempting to rush right past these three words to hurry up and get to the miracle.\u00a0 But if we want to understand Jesus and how he fully knows us and loves us, we should stop and spend some time at this place.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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To understand what an overwhelming experience of intimacy took place in this moment, we first need to take a step back to remember that the New Testament was not originally written in English, it was originally written in Greek.\u00a0\u00a0 The original Greek word used here is splagchnizomai.\u00a0 The English language has no perfect translation for this word, so the word gets translated as \u201cmoved with pity,\u201d which really misses the profoundly deep physical and emotional flavor of this word.\u00a0\u00a0 When we hear that Jesus was \u201cmoved with pity,\u201d it is saying that that Jesus saw into the heart of this man and that because of the pain Jesus saw in there, Jesus\u2019 gut was wrenched, Jesus felt a deep powerful weeping inside, that in anguish His heart was torn open and the most vulnerable part of his being laid bare.\u00a0 The greatest lover who ever lived really knows what hurts this man and it shakes Jesus at the core of His very being, which is why Jesus stretches out His hand to touch, love, save and heal this man.\u00a0 This physical healing is only a hint of the compassion of Jesus for our wounded humanity.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This compassion and love is something I have experienced first-hand.\u00a0 I stand before you today as a brother, Deacon and Dad who is grateful; grateful for all the times in my life when I needed love and healing and Jesus worked through others who got out of their comfort zone to reach out to let me feel Christ\u2019s loving and healing touch.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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During a heart-wrenching break-up with my girlfriend in college, I remember calling my older brother and letting him know how empty and alone I felt and him dropping everything that was going on in his life to drive five hours to come and be with me for the weekend.\u00a0 Just his presence and companionship had a tremendous healing effect in letting me know I was fully known and fully loved.\u00a0 I stand before you as a Deacon today because unworthy as I felt pursuing Jesus\u2019 call to become a Deacon, someone showed Christ\u2019s love for me by giving a generous gift through their Annual Catholic Appeal donation to make my Deacon schooling affordable.\u00a0 I have no doubt that this person measured the generosity of their loving gift not by how much they gave, but by how much they had left over after they gave.\u00a0 And more recently, there\u2019s been a change in our family\u2019s nightly bedtime prayer routine.\u00a0 My sweet nine-year-old daughter, Journey, has started getting out of her comfort zone on the other side of the bed to come cuddle with her Dad during bedtime prayers.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The message from the acts of each of these people is clear: Justin, you are fully known and fully loved.\u00a0 In a beautiful way, it is really Jesus who is speaking this message to each of us. So during this week of love, may we feel in the depths of our souls Jesus saying to each of us \u201cyou are fully known and fully loved.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The week of love is upon us.\u00a0 As you know, this week we have St. Valentine’s Day as well as World Marriage Day.\u00a0 If ever there was a perfect time for a message of love, this week is it.\u00a0 So for this week of love, what does the Church give its preachers to work with?\u00a0 … <\/p>\n