SKIN  DEEP

INTRODUCTION

Listening to today’s first reading and today’s gospel - for this 6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [B], an obvious title for my homily would be: “Skin Deep.”

Our skin is the largest organ in our body - and the most obvious - the most noticed - by ourselves and from others.

Mirrors mirrors - are everywhere - in our homes - in church - in movies - in songs -  novels - conversations - TV programs - any place or any situation which helps us see ourselves.

We are our skin - and our skin goes deep - and then we can go deeper and deeper into ourselves as our life goes further and further along.

I thought of that for starters: Skin deep.... Now what?

Where do those two words - skin deep - take us?  Homework: reflect upon them this week.  

Skin deep.

And this week - this Wednesday - ashes will be rubbed into our skin - into our forehead - to remind us that we are dust and into dust we shall return.

And surprise when doing research last night on skin I heard someone say that 80% of the dust in our homes are from dead skin. 

What?!!!!!  

Yep - someone said that.

BLIND

If we were blind - wow would we be different people - judging each other from sound and scent and feel - and not by skin or sight?

A classmate of mind - who has hearing problems and who has worked with the deaf - all his life as a priest - described to me once how deafness impacts people compared to blindness. He said that we think differently. He said something like: “Abstract thinking is tougher for deaf folks, who have been deaf all their life.”

I don’t know what it’s like to be born deaf or to be blind.  But like many people my age, my hearing is slowly going - and I feel out of the loop at times. I missed what was said.  And like people who aren’t in on something that happened, I might say, “I’m blind. I didn’t see what happened.”

However, I don’t know enough about this whole area of understanding each other.

SKIN PROBLEMS

Today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus - and today’s gospel from Mark - can certainly get us thinking about what it is like to have severe skin problems. [Check out Leviticus 13: 1-2, 44-46 and Mark 1:40-45.]

I wonder if skin doctors attend lectures and classes and hear from people with skin problems. “What’s it like to be Gorbachev - with a darkish red birth mark on his forehead?

I have a cousin whose daughter was severely burned. A group of young teen age girls were trying different dyes on their hair. They didn’t like this one color or shade - so someone said, “I heard lighter fluid will remove the dye.”  Someone lit a cigarette and boom - a horror story.  Luckily a policeman was cutting his grass next door. They came screaming out of the house. He ran in - filled the bathtub with water and got her in there till the ambulance came. She survived but when you meet her you can tell - even after 50 some operations she was burnt. I did her marriage - to a fireman. No I didn’t say, “Jeanne, a bit late - but I knew them enough to say I was tempted to say that.”

You should see their beautiful kids.

I like to tell the story that I got the skin cream treatment to take care of precancerous skin on my face and ears and neck twice. My brother died of Melanoma - so I watch my skin. You put this cream on everyday for a month and it pulls out stuff - and the patient starts to look like a pizza.

The skin doctor suggested getting it in January - when I would have less work. I was at my last assignment in Ohio. Myself and a guy named "Tom" were on the road every week preaching parish missions - and things were slower up till Lent.

I was at our parish and I was hearing confessions on a Saturday afternoon.  I was in the semi-darkness. You could go face to face in the confessionals or behind the screen - like here - unlike the confessionals in St. Mary’s. There was a dim lamp in the corner.

That afternoon everyone went to confession kneeling and behind the screen - except the last person. She was a lady who came in - sat down - made her confession - without really looking at me. I was hiding my face sort of - with my hands.

She finished the act of contrition - I raised my hands to bless her and pronounce the words of absolution. Still sitting she saw my face as I reached out my right hand to give her the sign of peace. She shook my hand and her face showed shock and without thinking she wiped her hand on her hip - and got out of there as fast as she could.

I said to myself, “Ooops.”  Then I thought, “What a great example for a homily on the man in today’s gospel - some day - but not here. I wouldn’t want to embarrass her.”

I didn’t know who she was and really didn’t notice her - and I was a bit nervous - and it all happened in the semi-darkness of a confessional.

SIN AND THE SKIN OF OUR SOUL

Being poetic I like to talk about the skin of our soul.

When we get cut badly - or have a serious operation - sometimes we end up with a scar - on our skin.

Sometimes poets and graduation speakers will say, “Show me your scars!”

We get them from the battles of life - from relationships - rejections, divorces, disasters, firings, being burnt, being cut, and if someone is like me, from picking.

I pick skin that is raised.

I’ve heard people yell to me and at me, “Stop picking.”

I smile, because as priest, I know there is a lot more picking of the skin of one’s soul - than the skin of one’s body.

Skin pickers pick raised skin.

Soul pickers pick raised sins.

Raised sins are triggered - by the stories of the moment.

There a lot of men out there - who are worried about this “Me-too” movement - right now.

ME TOO - THAT’S MY STORY

If we hear, if we read, today’s two readings as stories about inner leprosy - inner skin of the soul stories - as my stories - then this week’s reflection on skin deep - can make these two Bible readings really real.

In the first reading the person with the sore of leprosy - and has been declared so by the priest - uh oh with that comment  - that person has to walk around with ripped garments, head bare, and say with muffled voice - muttered into his beard, “Unclean, unclean!”

I assume the comment about muttering into one's beard - means, "Lower your head. You are an unclean person."

I hate the next line in this first reading, “He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.”

Please God:  therapists - and I hope priests - will help people who feel unclean - to come back to family and the human camp - when they feel, “unclean, unclean” - when their inner mantra is “Shame, shame on you” for something they have done.

CONCLUSION

For starters I would suggest to someone to announce to themselves and to God  a sin they have committed. 

I like to suggest using a rosary for a lot more than Hail Mary's. So using a rosary - say something they have done that hurt themselves or another - over and over again on a rosary. Say that something 59 times. And still using the  beads. say 59 times, “Unclean, unclean” and “Shame, shame on you.”

Then be the person in today’s gospel and say to Jesus with your beads, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Or, "Clean me!" or "Heal me!"

Where to find Jesus?  The gospel for today says he’s outside in deserted places - and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Be one of those persons who finds Jesus. Be healed - underneath skin deep - deep in the inner room of your soul. Find that room deep within yourself. It can be here at church or the Eucharistic Chapel or on nice long walks at the Naval Academy or Quiet Waters Park or your neighborhood or in quiet places in your house.

Then keep your eyes and your ears on how you feel when healed.

It's much deeper than skin deep.