Monday, Third Week of Lent

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 8, 2010
First Reading: 2 Kgs 5:1-15ab;
Responsorial Psalm: 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4 ;
Gospel: Lk 4:24-30 ;

And here's an audio file and a video of a priest offering reflections.

 First Reading:  2 Kgs 5:1-15ab
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,
xcept in Israel".

Responsorial Psalm  42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
R.         Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
As the deer yearns for the running streams,
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?

Gospel   Lk 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.

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Commentary: I love the story in the first reading - it is all too often, so true - that we expect God to make some massive entrance, like something out of a movie - or whatever supernatural aura you might put God in. The skies open up, the sun turns blue, the Earth shakes - whatever. Yet in so many cases, it is never one big thing, but a million little things. Thankfully, Naaman had a good friend to suggest trying the advice offered, and also - thankfully Naaman trusted in his friend's advice and tried the simple remedy. Perhaps it might be helpful to focus on trying harder to see God in every little thing and every person's face, and all the glorious events that take place all around us. Allow the love inside you to pour out on everyone. If our hearts and minds were really "there", then every creature would be a mirror of the divine and be holy.

Psalm 42 - is a personal favorite. What a lovely song this must have been back in the day. Sometimes I try and imagine how the music and melody went when it was first sung by King David. I bet it was really something. And I have always been fascinated by the thought - that everyone has this deep yearning for God within them. It crosses language, cultures, and generations - throughout all of  time. It is kind of neat to think about that. This psalm always reminds me of psalm 63 too. They seem very similar to me, as if the feeling is so intense, it needed to be put into another song. One of my favorite renditions of feeling, comes from a musician named Steve Agrisano.



Finally, in today's Gospel - Jesus says some simple words that are truthful, and boy oh boy - the people get so mad, they want to toss him off the mountain at the edge of the city and kill him. Well what did he say that got them so angry? He tweaked their pride. His message seems to say that God does not only love you, He loves everybody. Don't be discouraged, He loves you no less.