Throughout history, there have been many diseases that have killed millions of people. For example, in the Middle Ages, bubonic plague devastated Europe and up to half the people died. In 1918, immediately after World War I, a world-wide flu pandemic killed more people than had been killed in the War. In our own time, beginning in the last century, HIV/AIDS has led to approximately 36 million deaths world-wide.

In every instance, the worst result of these epidemics- other than the obvious sufferings of the victims- has been the reactions of those not infected. Based in ignorance, the primary reaction has been panic, leading to discrimination, then violence.

I remember an incident when I was living in a small town- which literally had only one gas station. A young man who had moved away from the town, had become infected with HIV. He would eventually die of complications of that disease. He came home, basically to say goodbye to his family. Before he left town, he stopped at the gas station to fill his gas tank. After he drove away, the gas station owner went and put a sign on the gas pump the young man had just used. The sign said, “Out of Order”.

When people are not informed or when, out of a lack of compassion, they let prejudice or hatred inflect their own humanity, we witness the worst of what human beings are capable of.

In today’s gospel, a man suffering from leprosy approaches Jesus. This leper has broken the Law. Leprosy was a disease controlled in those days by separating the victims from society. Under no circumstances were they to have any contact whatsoever with anyone other then other lepers.

Today, leprosy still exists, but it is treatable. It is properly called Hansen’s Disease. But the social stigma remains. People are afraid of what they don’t understand.

In the Gospel story, Jesus cured no one else in that town. He went into the mountains to be alone and pray.

Beyond the medical issues involved in all these examples, we can see these physical diseases as outward signs of something even worse. And that is spiritual disease. At first glance, a thief or a murderer looks healthy on the outside. But inside, there is a wasting away of basic human decency.

Medicine can care for viral or bacterial diseases. The spiritual, interior diseases that one way or another infects everyone can be cured only by what Jesus did after he compassionately touched and cured the leper. He went and prayed.

God does not cure every disease. Eventually, we will all die. But he does heal all who suffer from spiritual disease. And those of us who may be healthy today can imitate the compassion of Jesus.

The recent panic over Ebola is a good example. While the press made a bad situation worse, medical personnel continued to care for the victims. They are the heroes of that story. The disease is under control.

We need heroes in every instance of physical of spiritual disease. Humanity can be saved by compassion. It can be destroyed by ignorance.

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