“If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched the leper, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” // Mark 1:40-41
This past summer, I had a profound experience in prayer contemplating Ephesians 6:10-18, a powerful Scripture about putting on the armor of God. In prayer, I asked God how He armored me and what my armor looked like. After a long period of silence, He placed across my chest the heart of His Mother, Mary. But not the Immaculate Heart of Mary, rather her pierced heart of seven sorrows. I was not excited; rather, I was saddened and humbled.
I’ve had a devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Mary for the past few years. When He revealed to me that my compassionate heart was my spiritual defense against attacks by Satan, I accepted the armor and buckled up.
Daily my actions are motivated by God when my heart is pierced by the modern-day lepers I encounter. Lepers in Jesus’ time were severely ill men and women shamed, lonely, and cast out by society. But who are the ill men and women I see shamed, lonely, and cast out by society today?
Between the homeless on the streets, the students needing healing from addiction and sexual trauma, and the lonely students overwhelmed by campus life, there are days I come home exhausted from my overzealous compassionate heart. So many people are in need of help, healing, and friendships, and we are all moving at such a fast pace that we don’t slow down long enough to reach out to one another.
When was the last time your heart was pierced with pity like our Mother Mary’s? So often we would rather look the other way or not place ourselves in situations where our hearts will be pierced to avoid feeling pity. Mother Teresa said, “You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society—completely forgotten, completely left alone” (source).
I hope we each find our Calcutta and not only have eyes to see, but hearts moved by pity. God wills that we are all made clean (see Mark 1:40-41). It just takes us, His hands and feet, to reach out to one another.
