Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Lectionary: 237
Lectionary: 237
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram,
was highly esteemed and respected by his master,
for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram.
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife.
"If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,"
she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy."
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.
"Go," said the king of Aram.
"I will send along a letter to the king of Israel."
So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:
"With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy."
When he read the letter,
the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:
"Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!"
When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments,
he sent word to the king:
"Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in Israel."
Naaman came with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.
The prophet sent him the message:
"Go and wash seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean."
But Naaman went away angry, saying,
"I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?"
With this, he turned about in anger and left.
But his servants came up and reasoned with him.
"My father," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel."
was highly esteemed and respected by his master,
for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram.
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman's wife.
"If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,"
she said to her mistress, "he would cure him of his leprosy."
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.
"Go," said the king of Aram.
"I will send along a letter to the king of Israel."
So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:
"With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy."
When he read the letter,
the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:
"Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!"
When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments,
he sent word to the king:
"Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in Israel."
Naaman came with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.
The prophet sent him the message:
"Go and wash seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean."
But Naaman went away angry, saying,
"I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?"
With this, he turned about in anger and left.
But his servants came up and reasoned with him.
"My father," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,
"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel."
Responsorial
PsalmPS 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
R. (see 42:3) Athirst
is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
Verse Before
The GospelSEE PS 130:5, 7
I hope in the LORD, I trust in his word;
with him there is kindness and plenteous redemption.
with him there is kindness and plenteous redemption.
GospelLK 4:24-30
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Meditation: Jesus' power to heal and cleanse
Do you believe that God wants to act with power in
your life today? Power to set you free from sin and hurtful desires, fear and
oppression. Throughout the Scriptures we see God performing mighty acts to save
his people from death and destruction - from Noah's ark that spared his family
from the flood of wickedness that had spread across the land to Moses and the
Israelites who crossed through the parting waters of the Red Sea as they fled
the armies of Pharoah their slave Master and oppressor.
Throughout the Gospel accounts Jesus praised
individuals who put their faith in God as they remembered the great and
wonderful deeds he had performed time and again. Jesus even praised outsiders -
non-Jews and pagans from other lands who had heard about the mighty deeds of
the God of Israel. One example Jesus mentioned was Naaman the pagan army
commander from Syria who was afflicted with leprosy - a debilitating skin
disease that slowly ate away the flesh (2 Kings 5:1-15). Naaman's slave-girl
was a young Jewish woman who had faith in God and compassion for Naaman her
master. She urged him to seek healing from Elisha, the great prophet of
Israel.When Naaman went to the land of Israel to seek a cure for his leprosy,
the prophet Elisha instructed him to bathe seven times in the Jordan river.
Namaan was indignant at first, but then repented and followed the prophet's
instructions. In doing so he was immediately restored in body and spirit.
Healing the leprosy of soul and body
What is the significance of Naaman's healing for us? Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD), an early Christian teacher from Edessa, tells us that Naaman's miraculous healing at the River Jordan, prefigures the mystery of the healing which is freely granted to all nations of the earth by our Lord Jesus through the regenerating waters of baptism and renewal in the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
What is the significance of Naaman's healing for us? Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD), an early Christian teacher from Edessa, tells us that Naaman's miraculous healing at the River Jordan, prefigures the mystery of the healing which is freely granted to all nations of the earth by our Lord Jesus through the regenerating waters of baptism and renewal in the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
"Therefore Naaman was sent to the
Jordan as to the remedy capable to heal a human being. Indeed, sin is the
leprosy of the soul, which is not perceived by the senses, but intelligence has
the proof of it, and human nature must be delivered from this disease by
Christ's power which is hidden in baptism. It was necessary that Naaman, in
order to be purified from two diseases, that of the soul and that of the body,
might represent in his own person the purification of all the nations through
the bath of regeneration, whose beginning was in the river Jordan, the mother
and originator of baptism." (commentary
ON THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS 5.10-1)
Jesus told
Nicodemus, "unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter
the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). The Lord Jesus wants to renew in each one
of us the gift of faith and the regenerating power of baptism and the Holy
Spirit (Titus 3:5) which cleanses us of the leprosy of sin and makes us
"newborn" sons and daughters of God.
Confronting the sin of indifference and unbelief
When Jesus first proclaimed the good news of God's kingdom to his own townspeople at Nazareth (Luke 4:23-27), he did not hesitate to confront them with their sin of indifference and unbelief. He startled his listeners in the synagogue at Nazareth with a seeming rebuke that no prophet or servant of God could receive honor among his own people. He then angered them when he complimented Gentiles who had shown more faith in God than the "chosen ones" of Israel. Some who despised the Gentiles (non-Jews) even spoke of them as "fuel for the fires of hell." Jesus' praise for "outsiders" offended the ears of his own people because they were blind-sighted to God's merciful plan of redemption for all the nations. The word of rebuke spoken by Jesus was met with indignation and hostility. The Nazarenes forcibly threw him out of their town and would have done him physical harm had he not stopped them.
When Jesus first proclaimed the good news of God's kingdom to his own townspeople at Nazareth (Luke 4:23-27), he did not hesitate to confront them with their sin of indifference and unbelief. He startled his listeners in the synagogue at Nazareth with a seeming rebuke that no prophet or servant of God could receive honor among his own people. He then angered them when he complimented Gentiles who had shown more faith in God than the "chosen ones" of Israel. Some who despised the Gentiles (non-Jews) even spoke of them as "fuel for the fires of hell." Jesus' praise for "outsiders" offended the ears of his own people because they were blind-sighted to God's merciful plan of redemption for all the nations. The word of rebuke spoken by Jesus was met with indignation and hostility. The Nazarenes forcibly threw him out of their town and would have done him physical harm had he not stopped them.
The Lord brings healing and pardon to all who humbly
seek him with faith and trust
We all stand in need of God's grace and merciful help every day and every moment of our lives. Scripture tells us that "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23). God gives grace to the humble who seek him with expectant faith and with a repentant heart that wants to be made whole and clean again.
We all stand in need of God's grace and merciful help every day and every moment of our lives. Scripture tells us that "the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23). God gives grace to the humble who seek him with expectant faith and with a repentant heart that wants to be made whole and clean again.
The Lord Jesus will set us free from every sinful
habit and every harmful way of relating to our neighbor, if we allow him to
cleanse and heal us. If we want to walk in freedom and grow in love and
holiness, then we must humbly renounce our sinful ways and submit to Christ's
instruction and healing discipline in our lives. Scripture tells us that the
Lord disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness (Hebrews
12:10). Do you want the Lord Jesus to set you free and make you whole again?
Ask him to show you the way to walk in his healing love and truth.
"Lord Jesus, teach me to love your ways that I
may be quick to renounce sin and wilfulness in my life. Make me whole and clean
again that I may delight to do your will."
A Daily Quote for Lent: Could anyone refuse to love our God?, by
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Fulfill the commandments out of love. Could
anyone refuse to love our God, so abounding in mercy, so just in all his ways?
Could anyone deny love to him who first loved us despite all our injustice and
all our pride? Could anyone refuse to love the God who so loved us as to send
his only Son not only to live among human beings but also to be put to death
for their sake and at their own hands?"
MONDAY, MARCH
5, LUKE 4:24-30
Lenten Weekday
(2 Kings 5:1-15b; Psalm 42)
Lenten Weekday
(2 Kings 5:1-15b; Psalm 42)
KEY VERSE: "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place" (v 24).
TO KNOW: The people of Nazareth were amazed by Jesus' teaching, but they were skeptical as to where he got his authority. If he performed miracles elsewhere, why had he not worked any in his own hometown? Jesus said that prophets were never accepted by their own people. He compared his ministry to the prophets Elijah and Elisha who were rejected by their own, yet brought healing and hope to the Gentiles (1 Kgs 17; 2 Kgs 5). The people were angered by Jesus' words. Was he saying that the Gentiles were more favored by God than they were? They were certain that they were God's people and believed that the Gentiles were nothing but fuel for the fires of hell. Outraged, they dragged Jesus from the synagogue and attempted to throw him over a cliff. Miraculously, he eluded them. This incident prefigured the persecution that Jesus continually faced until his ultimate fate on Calvary.
TO LOVE: Lord Jesus, help me to listen to your voice today.
TO SERVE: Pray for Christians around the world who face persecution and death for the sake of the gospel.
Monday 5 March
2018
2 Kings 5:1-15. Psalm 41(42):2-3; 42(43):3-4. Luke
4:24-30.
My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him
face to face?—Psalm 41(42):2-3; 42(43):3-4
Is not this the carpenter’s son? They led him out of town to
throw him off a cliff, but he escaped them and went on his way.
This story is rich with insight into the person and mission of
Jesus. Jesus grew up, lived and worked in Nazareth, accepting his role as the
son of Joseph the carpenter. Once he devoted himself to the ministry God his
Father asked of him, he taught his Father’s love and encouraged people to love
one another. Yet despite being impressed by his wisdom and astounded by his
teaching, his hometown refused to accept what he offered.
It was also part of Jesus’ ministry to trouble the insincere and
afflict the comfortable. He often faced their hatred. Despite this, he
persevered through pain in his ministry of calling us to live as servants of
peace in a community of love.
Saint John Joseph of the Cross
Saint of the Day for March 5
(August 15, 1654 – March 5, 1734)
Saint John Joseph of the Cross’ Story
Self-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward
greater charity—as the life of Saint John Joseph shows.
John Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. At 16, he
joined the Franciscans in Naples; he was the first Italian to follow the reform
movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John Joseph’s reputation for holiness
prompted his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even
before he was ordained.
Obedience moved John Joseph to accept appointments as novice
master, guardian and, finally, provincial. His years of mortification enabled
him to offer these services to the friars with great charity. As guardian he
was not above working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and water needed by
the friars.
When his term as provincial expired, John Joseph dedicated
himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification, two concerns
contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of Enlightenment. John Joseph of the
Cross was canonized in 1839.
Reflection
John Joseph’s mortification allowed him to be the kind of
forgiving superior intended by Saint Francis. Self-denial should lead us
to charity—not to bitterness; it should help us clarify our priorities and make
us more loving. John Joseph is living proof of Chesterton’s observation: “It is
always easy to let the age have its head; the difficult thing is to keep one’s
own” (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, page 101).
LECTIO DIVINA: LUKE 4,24-30
Lectio Divina:
Monday, March 5, 2018
Season of Lent
1) OPENING PRAYER
Just and holy God,
our loving Father,
You offered us Your hand in friendship
and You sent us Your Son Jesus
to go with us on the road
of obedience and loyalty. God, we often hurt this friendship;
we act as if we were not Your sons and daughters.
See the look of shame on our faces.
Forgive us, for we count on You.
Accept our thanks
for continuing to take us as we are
and loving us notwithstanding our sins.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
our loving Father,
You offered us Your hand in friendship
and You sent us Your Son Jesus
to go with us on the road
of obedience and loyalty. God, we often hurt this friendship;
we act as if we were not Your sons and daughters.
See the look of shame on our faces.
Forgive us, for we count on You.
Accept our thanks
for continuing to take us as we are
and loving us notwithstanding our sins.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - LUKE
4:24-30
Jesus said to the people in the
synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own
native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days
of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe
famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was
sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were
many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of
them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the
synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him
out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had
been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them
and went away.
3) REFLECTION
• Today’s Gospel (Lk 4:24-30) forms part
of a larger part (Lk 4:14-32). Jesus had presented His program in the synagogue
of Nazareth, using a text from Isaiah which spoke about the poor, the
prisoners, the blind and the oppressed (Is 61:1-2) and which mirrored the
situation of the people of Galilee at the time of Jesus. In the name of God,
Jesus takes a stand and defines His mission: to proclaim the Good News to the
poor, to proclaim release to prisoners, to give back sight to the blind, to
restore liberty to the oppressed. After finishing the reading, He updates the
text and says, “Today this text is being fulfilled even while you are
listening!” (Lk 4:21). All those present were astonished (Lk 4:16, 22b). But
immediately after there was a reaction to discredit. The people in the
synagogue were scandalized and did not want to know anything about Jesus. They
said, “Is He not the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22b). Why were they scandalized?
What is the reason for this [unexpected] reaction?
• Because Jesus quoted the text from
Isaiah only to the part that says, “to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord,”
and He omits the end of the sentence, which says, “to proclaim a day of
vengeance for our God” (Is 61:2). The people of Nazareth remained surprised
because Jesus omitted the phrase on vengeance. They wanted the Good News of the
liberation of the oppressed to be an action of vengeance on the part of God
against the oppressors. In this case the coming of the Kingdom would be only a
superficial social change, and not a change or conversion of the system. Jesus
does not accept this way of thinking. His experience of God the Father helps
Him to understand better the significance of the prophecies. He takes away the
vengeance. The people of Nazareth do not accept that proposal, and the
authority of Jesus begins to diminish: “Is He not Joseph’s son?”
• Luke 4:24: No prophet is ever accepted
in his own country. Jesus answers, “No prophet is ever accepted in his own
country!” In fact, they did not accept the new image of God which Jesus
communicated to them through this new and freer interpretation of Isaiah. The
message of the God of Jesus went beyond the limits of the Jewish people and
opened itself to accept the excluded and all humanity.
• Luke 4:25-27: Two stories of the Old
Testament. In order to help the community to get beyond the scandal and to
understand the universality of God, Jesus uses two well known stories of the
Old Testament: one of Elijah and the other one of Elisha. Through these stories
He criticized the people of Nazareth who were so closed up in themselves.
Elijah was sent to the foreign widow of Zarephah (1 Kg 17:7-16). Elisha was
sent to take care of Naaman of Syria (2 Kg 5:14). The people of Nazareth felt
threatened by this. Paul makes a similar statement with similar results too
(Acts 22:21)
• Luke 4:28-30: They intended to throw
Him off the cliff, but He passed straight through the crowd and walked away.
What Jesus said did not calm the people down. On the contrary! The use of these
two biblical passages caused them to become more angry. The community of
Nazareth reached the point of wanting to kill Jesus. And thus, at the moment in
which He presented His plan to accept the excluded, Jesus Himself was excluded!
But He remained calm! The anger of the others did not make Him change His mind.
In this way, Luke indicates that it is difficult to overcome the mentality of
privilege which is closed up in itself. And he showed that the polemic attitude
of the gentiles had already existed in the time of Jesus. Jesus had the same
difficulty which Luke had with the Hebrew community in his time.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• How do I carry on the gift of the Good
News in the world today?
• Who are the excluded whom we should
accept more warmly in our community?
• Does taking on poverty, oppression, or
blindness (in all its forms) start on a personal level and spread to my
community, or do I wait for the community to act before taking personal action?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
My whole being yearns
and pines for Yahweh's courts;
My heart and my body cry out
for joy to the living God. (Ps 84:2)
and pines for Yahweh's courts;
My heart and my body cry out
for joy to the living God. (Ps 84:2)
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