Lord, if you wish you can make me clean. In that simple plea, the leper in today’s Gospel makes a twofold act of faith. First, he truly believes that Jesus has the power to heal him. Second, he trusts in Christ’s intrinsic goodness—his desire to relieve suffering and restore what is broken. There is also, in the words “if you wish,” a quiet surrender to Jesus’ wisdom. Whether or not the leper consciously intended it, his statement expresses a profound readiness to accept Christ’s discernment: to be cured if Jesus wills it, and to remain unhealed if that, too, serves a deeper purpose. It is a faith that seeks healing without presuming upon it. In our own appeals to the Lord, we often lack this twofold faith. At times we do not trust God’s wisdom or love when our imprudent or shortsighted petitions go unanswered in the way we desire. We may even conclude that God does not truly care for us. At other times, unlike the leper, we struggle to believe that Christ has the power to meet our urgent needs—especially when the situation appears impossible or without remedy. To the extent that we fall short of this faith, let us ask God’s forgiveness, and the grace to approach Jesus with the leper’s confident, humble, and unwavering trust.