By Water & Blood

Homily 8.5: Six kinds of leprosy

We find, then, that six kinds of human leprosy are set forth; and these six kinds are described in this way. Either a scar appears on the skin of the body, and a whitish mark, and then the contagion of leprosy appears on the skin of his body. Or the leprosy breaks out in bloom and covers all the skin, the contagion from his head to his feet. Or a third kind: an ulcer arises on the skin of the flesh and is healed, and in the very place of the ulcer a white scar appears. Or a burn by fire arises on the skin of the flesh, and afterwards, when the burn is healed, it will be shining white, or white with redness. The fifth kind, when the contagion of leprosy appears in a man or a woman on the head or in the beard. The last kind is written when the contagion of reddish leprosy appears on a bald head, or a bald forehead, which is leprosy breaking out on the bald head or forehead. These things, to use a short form of exposition, since our purpose now is to admonish the hearers briefly from what has been read, and there is no time to discuss each thing clearly, seem to me to be referred to each kind of sin, and in them we must look at the stains of the soul which befall it from sins. It must be said first, then, that by these are designated the sins which we commit while placed in this life; of which some can be cured now and some cannot. And secondly it must be understood that those very sins also are signified which pass with us after this life, and that among them some are so fixed in souls that they cannot be abolished, while others are such as can receive purification, according to the inspection and judgment of that high priest from whom hidden things cannot be concealed, and who will dispose the souls of each according to whether he sees in them stains of leprosy that are expiable or inexpiable.

To gather the differences of this matter from the present reading, and to search out one by one, according to the indication of this Scripture, the things that can move us, this extempore discourse, as I said above, does not allow. For these things could scarcely be set in order and composed in many volumes by those from whom the Lord has drawn away the veil in the reading of the Old Testament. Let us, then, according to our powers, carry out as much as is fitting to bring forward, the apostle Paul opening the way of understanding to us, in which he says that the law has a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things; and according to which he declares that what seems written in the law about oxen is to be taken not of oxen, for which God has no care, but of the apostles. From this we are taught by logical consequence that what is written about leprosy too is a shadow, having in other things the image of the truth. Let us apply first, then, if it seems good, the very shadow of Scripture, and then inquire about its truth. In wounds of bodies, after they have been cured, there sometimes remains a mark of the wound itself, which is called a scar. For there is scarcely anyone who is so cured that no sign of the wound he received seems to remain. Pass now from this shadow of the law to its truth, and see how the soul which has received the wound of sin, even if it is cured, nevertheless has a scar of sin remaining in the place of the wound. This scar is seen not only by God, but also by those who have received from him the grace by which they can perceive the sicknesses of souls, and discern which soul has been so cured that it has cast off in every way the trace of the wound inflicted, and which has indeed been cured but still bears, in the very trace of the scar, signs of the old disease.

That there are wounds of the soul Isaiah teaches, saying: “From the feet to the head there is no wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore,” speaking these things, no doubt, of the offences of the people: since there are some to whom the remedy of a poultice can still be applied. But that others are such great sinners that no cure can be applied to them the same prophet indicates in this way: “It is not possible,” he says, “to apply a poultice, nor oil, nor bandages.” And that bruising and the wound of pain through corruption are applied to the soul for the sake of cure Jeremiah teaches, saying: “Thus says the Lord: I have raised up the bruising of your wound with pain; there is none to judge your judgment; you have been healed with pain, there is no profit in you. All your friends have forgotten you, nor will they ask after you any longer; because I have struck you with the wound of an enemy, with a strong chastisement, for all your iniquity, because your sins have been multiplied. Why do you cry out over your bruising? Your pain is violent; because of the multitude of your iniquities your sins have prevailed, and have done these things to you. Therefore all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your enemies shall devour their own flesh; and those who afflicted you shall be in affliction, and all who plundered you I will give up to plunder; because I will bring back your health, and from the pain of your wound I will call you back, says the Lord.” Remember more carefully what you have heard from the prophet said about wounds and scars and swellings. For these are necessary for us for the exposition of the scars or wounds or other such things which are mentioned in the inspections of leprosy. We shall add, however, what the same Jeremiah mentions in another place too about the wounds of the soul and their cures, in which, however, traces of the wounds have remained after the scar has formed, in these words: “Behold, I will bring on its scar, and at the same time I will cure them, and I will show them peace and faith, and I will turn the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Jerusalem.” If, then, we have learned sufficiently from the prophet about the wounds and scars of souls, and the cures and healings which are applied by God as physician, look now at that soul of which the Lord says, “I have brought on its scar.” After the wounds, no doubt, he brings the scar and health.

“And I will cure them, and I will show them peace and faith.” If, then, after the knowledge and medicine of God, after the manifestation of peace and faith which we have received through Christ, some sign of a former sin rises again in this scar, or some mark of an old error is renewed, then there appears on the skin of our body the contagion of leprosy, which must be inspected by the high priest according to what the lawgiver has set out.