AN ALLEGORY FOR SIN - LUKE 5:12-15, Mk 1;40, Mt. 8:2

The leper limped his way
before the Lord,

He was a mass of putrefying flesh,

Revolting and disgusting.

A choking, reeking stench emanates.

Sickened to my stomach,

I almost retch and shudder,

As I look away.

My reaction is,

Bereft of love,

Bereft of charity.

I hear a gasp,

The crowd dumbfounded,

Is aghast at the approach,

Of the wretched man,

Who dropping to the ground,

Begins to cry,

 “Lord, if You will,

You can make me clean.”

His distress aroused 

Compassion,
In the tender heart of God

Where mercy overflows.

The leper dared to hope,
When he beheld the Lord

And God in turn did touch

The seething mass of dying flesh

And said “I will. Be healed!”

,

Forthwith he’s whole again,

But just his body.
Not his soul.

The miracle 
Is incomplete,

Until he stands before a priest,

Who will declare him free 
Of the disease.

This will seal the work

God has begun.

I too did reek of sin,

And leprous was my soul,

Until I fell upon my knees,

And I confessed,

“Bless me father, I have sinned.”

Mercy overflowed,

God healed me and restored

All I had lost.

Absolved in Jesus’ Name

My soul is clean again,

My Lord has made me whole.

-Myra D'Souza 
March 07, 2018