My deacon husband preached a touching homily this past weekend. He began by pointing out how Jesus looked beyond the proscribed law and reached out to touch the unclean leper. Rather than seeing the disease, Jesus saw the human.
He pointed out how we tend to label people based on their conditions or dis-eases, such as alcoholic, drug addict, homeless, the 1%. We do often attach labels to people based on our impressions of their actions. These labels, then, color how we respond to them.
Then he shared a story about a girl he knew in school. She didn't fit in. Her parents were poor and didn't care well for her. She had tape on her glasses. Because her house was the last stop on the bus route, she stood in the back because there were no seats. When my husband's friends moved and his seat opened up, his sister pointed out to this girl that she could sit with him. As time went on, he began to talk to her and get to know her a bit. It was then that he began to see her not by her label, but as a human, a child of God.
My husband's homily has challenged me - and others in our parish - to consider who are my lepers. I do tend to label people based on my first impressions. And those impressions influence how I respond to them.
I have a lot of praying to do this week. I need to pray for all of my "lepers" of whom I need to change my way of seeing. I need to pray for myself so that I may stop labeling people based on how they look or act and respond to them as children of God.
Parents have a great responsibility for teaching their children how to see people as children of God rather than by their labels. Consider how you can help your children respond to others with compassion rather than judgment. Pray for them, for yourself, and for the "lepers" in your life.