Sem. Ian Ragde C. Melad Reflection Paper No.
8
Metaphysics September 19, 2014
A Leper in Disguise
During the time of Jesus, lepers were outcasts. They were treated as foremost sinners and
that manifestations of which were obvious on their skin. In those days lepers are untouchable and
unclean. If they were to pass a village they would have to ring a bell and proclaim to everyone
that they are passing. Many people during those days hate them, curse them, and throw stones
into them because for them they are bad. For many, they are evil.
Today, many people live as if they are lepers. Many people do not enjoy life because they
think they are evils. Surprisingly, that is also what the community is thinking of them, evils;
because today, even yesterday, the word evil is taken subjectively. Evil is taken as something
unpleasant, undesirable, as a negation. But, to take evil as what evil is, or objectively, one will
see that evil is not a negation but a privation and an excess. It is an absence of what is ought to
be present, not just a mere absence. It is an excess of one is ought to be in a balance. Most of the
time, people think and act as lepers because they do not know that they are acting as if they are
lepers. Most of the time people see their brothers or sisters as evils because they do not know
what an evil is. Most of the time, people judge because, they simply do not know.
Most people do not know what evil is but, they judge. Most people judge as if they know
what they are judging. Evil is a privation, not a negation. Today, as I look at different people I
can say that those who thought and say, to their brothers or sisters, evils are actually victims of
evil, or to put it in the time of Jesus, they are actually suffering from a disease called, spiritual
leprosy. They do not stand at a distance. They mingle with people and appear normal. Yet inside,
they are the one decaying with compounded sins and feelings of emptiness. The symptoms are
simply and associated to evil. First is envy. Second is pride. Lastly, is grudge.
Let us take them one by one. First is envy. It starts when one desires what one has.
Sometimes people think of others as lepers in the community because, they wanted to get what
the other has. For example, the salutatorian wanted to be the top in their class and in doing it he
or she spread gossips, like cheating, about the valedictorian. The salutatorian wanted to be the
best and in doing it he or she would sacrifice others, simply because of envy. Sometimes, it’s the
other way around; some people think that they are lepers. They know that they envy someone,
but they do not act to fight it. They know that they are envious but, they would simply let the
second symptom to reign. Second is pride. This is when people deprive themselves of the
authentic joy earned through humble service. Those who suffer from spiritual leprosy and are
envious deprive themselves of the joy which they can get from admitting their own disease. Pride
makes people oblivious of others, it makes you insensitive. And because, of this pride most
people hated everyone whom they thought as higher than them. It leads them to the third and last
symptom which is grudge. It is the hatred which causes the person who is spiritually leper to
develop a thick force of evil within and outside of them.
According to Mark in chapter seven, verse 21 – 23: “From within people, from their
hearts come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evil come from within and they
defile.” You know what, evil comes from within. It is not created. If a person wanted to fight
Spiritual leprosy he can, but he must first let God send miracles. According to Bernard Shaw:
There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it. If someone is suffering from
spiritual leprosy the cure is very simple, he just have to prove that he is good, and that his purity
is above the evil within him, through God’s miracle. Now let us ask ourselves: “Am I a
LEPER?”