ONCE a jeepney was passing in front of a leprosarium. Two patients with visible physical deformities boarded. There was an uneasy silence as they wedged themselves between two passengers right behind the driver.

When the two asked the driver to stop to alight, one reached out her hand to pay the fare.

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The driver, who didn’t want to touch the hand and coins for fear of contamination, said: "Hindi na bale. Libre na ang pamasahe ninyo" (Never mind, your fare is free).

The patient behind him was so grateful that she took his hand and kissed it! The driver almost fainted.

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Leprosy is a terrible disease. During the time of Christ, lepers were even more pathetic. They were not only segregated as social outcasts to be shunned but their sickness was also considered as a punishment from God.

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Today the equivalent of leprosy is AIDS, the dreaded contagious sickness. Among inventive Filipinos, AIDS means for students "Acute Insanity Due to Studies"; for the perennially broke (palaging kinakapos), it means "Acute Income Deficiency Syndrome"!

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The leper in this 6th Sunday’s gospel (Mk 1:40-45) reveals how desperate he had become by openly entering a town in order to seek Jesus’ help. He approached our Lord and cried out: "Lord, if You will, You can heal me."

Jesus stretched out his hand and said: "I do will it. Be cured." And the leper was instantly cured. Note that Jesus was "moved to pity," rather than by horror at the sight of the man.

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Today, thanks to the advances of medical science, leprosy is curable and does not bear the moral stigma it once had. Nowadays we seldom meet lepers but we do have modern-day lepers.

They are those who are considered as social outcasts or shunned by people in society.

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We have the women of ill-repute, the prisoners, the squatters living in makeshift houses, tribal people who’re often looked down upon and whose rights are abused.

What is our attitude towards them? What is the Christian response? Jesus reached out to the "unclean" leper despite the explicit prohibition of associating with such people.

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In a meeting about a project of doing apostolate with prisoners in a provincial jail, one young man stood up and said: "Why undertake this project? Isn’t it only fair that they are put behind bars to suffer the consequences of their crime?" One from the group responded: "We live by another kind of standard."

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The "standard" which he referred to, and for every Christ’s follower, is the spirit of Christian love and compassion as shown by Jesus in this Sunday’s gospel.

APPLICATION: I’ll reach out to the outcasts, the lepers of modern society — prisoners, beggars, public sinners — by extending help like food, legal or financial assistance.

"Be compassionate and God will be compassionate on you."

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FAMILY TV MASS — which reaches out to families particularly the sick and elderly, is aired nationwide on IBC 13 at 9-10 a.m. every Sunday by the SVD Mission Communications Foundation, Inc. (MCFI).

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Mass sponsor this Sunday: Centro Escolar University (CEU). Celebrant: Fr. Aris MARTIN, SVD.

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Donations for Mass intentions are most welcome. Donors/sponsors will be gratefully acknowledged in the T.V. Mass.

For inquiries, e-mail: familytv.mass@yahoo.com.