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Pope Benedict XVI- Angelus |
Angelus Message
On Transgression and Forgiveness
"The Sins We Commit Distance Us from God"
H.H. Benedict XVI
February 15, 2009
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
On these Sundays the Evangelist Mark offers a sequence of various
miraculous healings for our reflection. Today he presents a very
special one -- that of a healed leper (cf. Mark 1:40-45) -- who,
coming to Jesus, gets on his knees and says: “If you wish, you can
make me clean!” Jesus, moved, stretches out his hand, touches him
and says: “I do wish it. Be made clean!”
The man is healed instantly and Jesus asks him not to tell anyone
and present himself to the priests to offer the sacrifice prescribed
by the Mosaic law. The healed leper is unable to be quiet and
proclaims to everyone what happened to him so that, the evangelist
reports, still more sick people ran to Jesus from every part to the
point of forcing him to stay out of the cities so as not to be
besieged by the crowds.
Jesus says to the leper: “Be made clean!” According to the ancient
Jewish law (Leviticus 13-14), leprosy was not only considered a
sickness but the gravest form of “impurity.” It was the duty of the
priests to diagnose it and declare the person afflicted with leprosy
unclean. This person then had to keep his distance from the
community and stay away from towns until he was certified to be
healed.
Leprosy thus constituted a kind of religious and civil death, and
its healing was a kind of resurrection. We might see in leprosy a
symbol of sin, which is the true impurity of heart, distancing us
from God. It is not, in effect, physical malady that distances us
from him, as the ancient norms supposed, but sin, the spiritual and
moral evil.
This is way the Psalmist exclaims: “Blessed is he whose fault is
taken away / and whose sin is covered.” And then, turning to God:
“Then I acknowledged my sin to you, / my guilt I covered not. / I
said: ‘I shall confess my faults to the Lord,’ / and you took away
my guilt and my sin” (Psalm 31:1, 5 [32:1, 5]).
The sins we commit distance us from God, and, if they are not humbly
confessed, trusting in the divine mercy, they will finally bring
about the death of the soul. This miracle thus has powerful symbolic
value. Jesus, as Isaiah prophesied, is the servant of the Lord who
“bore our infirmities, / endured our sufferings” (Isaiah 53:4). In
his passion he will become like a leper, made impure by our sins,
separated from God: He will do all this for love, with the aim of
obtaining reconciliation, forgiveness and salvation for us.
In the Sacrament of Penance Christ crucified and risen, through his
ministers, purifies us with his infinite mercy, restores us to
communion with the heavenly Father and our brothers, and makes a
gift of his love, joy and peace to us.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us invoke the Virgin Mary, whom God
preserved from every stain of sin, that she help us to avoid sin and
to have frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Confession, the
Sacrament of Forgiveness, whose value and importance for our
Christian life needs to be rediscovered today.
[Translation by Joseph G. Trabbic]
[The Pope then greeted the people in several languages. In English,
he said:]
I greet all the English-speaking visitors and pilgrims here today
for the Angelus, especially the members of the joint
Catholic-Orthodox pilgrimage from Finland. I pray that the time you
spend in Rome may deepen your love for Jesus Christ our Lord, and
for his Church. In this Sunday's Gospel, we hear how Jesus healed a
leper who came to him and pleaded to be cured. To those who turn to
him today, Jesus continues to offer healing and strength. I
encourage all of you to place your trust in him, and to bring before
him your hopes and your needs, for yourselves and for your loved
ones. May the Lord grant your prayers and pour out upon all of you
his abundant blessings.
© Copyright 2009 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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